
Class A / 77 ^ 7 
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Copyright W.. 



COPKR1GHT DEPOSIT: 



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THE 

Cotton Mills 

of 

South Carolina "* 

1907 



LETTERS WRITTEN TO 

THE NEWS AND COURIER 

BY 

AUGUST KOHN 

Columbia Bureau, The News and Courier 



Reprinted from 

THE NEWS AND COURIER, CHARLESTON, S. C. 

October— December, 1907 



Copyright, 1907 



Press of 
The Daggett Printing Company 
Charleston, S. C. 
1907 



UBRXHVofCONGREsJ 

Two Copies Receiveu 

JAN 9 1908 

Gopyriffii totrv 

OLASSA XXC, No 
?7Z< 
<SOPY 



,f7Z6 £ 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



ARTICLES 

NO. x PAGES 

1. Introduction 3-5 

2. Historical 6-17 

3. Early Development 17-21 

4. Where the Help Comes From 21-26 

5. Why They Go to the Mills ." . 26-32 

6. Average Pay of the Operatives 32-37 

7. The Pay of Individual Operatives 37-45 

8. The Pay of Individual Operatives (continued) 45-51 

9. The Home Life of the Operatives 51-60 

10. The Shortage of Labor : . . 60-67 

11. Thrift Among the Operatives 67-75 

12. Health of the Help 75-86 

13. Statistics of Mill Population 86-91 

14. Spindle Statistics 91-98 

15. Taxation of the Mills 99-102 

16. Children in the Mills 102-115 

17. Children in the Cotton Mills (continued) 115-124 

18. General Scope of "Welfare Wor^" 124-127 

19. The Wisdom of "Welfare Work" 127-133 

20. ' 'Welfare Work, " Particularly Schools 133-143 

21. "Welfare Work," The Churches 143-150 

22. The Little Pleasures of Life 150-152 

23. Something of the Details of "Welfare Work," A to D 152-158 

24. Further Details of ' 'Welfare Work, " D to P 158-168 

24x. Details of "Welfare Work," P to T 168-172 

25. Details of "Welfare Work," (concluded) T to Z. 172-177 

26. Just a Word About Morals 177-180 

27. The Consumption of Cotton 180-183 

27. The Mills as Town Builders 184-192 

29. What Carolina Mills Make 192-199 

30. Immigration or Emigration 199-207 

31. Capitalization of the Mills 207-213 

32. New Mills and General Directory 213-217 

33. Index 219-228 



ARTICLE L— INTRODUCTION. 

Five years ago The News and Courier detailed me to investigate and report on 
the conditions of the cotton mills in South Carolina. These observations were 
printed in the early part of 1903. Since that publication, five years ago, there have 
been momentous changes in the industrial and social world. 

The cotton mills of South Carolina have prospered as have the people of this 
great State. Again The News and Courier has asked me to visit and report upon 
the conditions of the cotton mills. 

Very many things have happened since the winter of 1902, when my last investi- 
gation was made to affect the cotton mill industry, and it shall be my endeavor 
briefly to outline these conditions as the> are found. I shall state the facts as I 
see them, not gloss them over nor keep anything from the public; even if there 
should be anything to be kept from the public view. The actual conditions, the 
real facts, the economic status, the home life, the trials and the joys of the oper- 
atives themselves are what the people, in my opinion, really want to know. 

The unfamiliarity with mill conditions in South Carolina is due largely to the 
fact that this manufacturing industry has grown almost as if by magic. Twen- 
ty-five years ago the cotton mills amounted to but little in the economic history 
of this State. To-day very many more than one hundred thousand white people 
are entirely dependent upon this industry for their livelihood. To-day the cotton 
mills represent three-fourths of the capital invested in manufactures; in 1905 the 
actual proportion being 72.6 per cent. South Carolina is practically without any 
of the manufactories that enter into the making of steel and iron products, food 
stuffs, boots and shoes, furniture, clothing, leather goods, glass ware; agricul- 
tural implements, machinery, chemicals or ships. Indeed, it is difficult to realize 
that within a few years the cotton mills have grown to such an extent, in this 
State, that to-day they pay more than 60 per cent of the average wages earned 
by those engaged in all manufacturing enterprises, and that in money expended 
they represent more than half the aggregate of wages and that the Government 
reports that more than 62 per cent of the total value of the manufactured prod- 
ucts of this entire State are from the cotton mills. And incidentally they pay 
half a million dollars in taxes for the support of the State and municipal govern- 
ments. 

There is a great deal that can be said about the cotton mills of South Caro- 
lina and the part they have played in our great industrial development. My pur- 
pose shall be to do this as briefly as is within my power because I firmly be- 
lieve that whatever misunderstanding there may be either here or by the out- 
side world as to labor conditions, the employment of children, or wages, is due 
entirely to a lack of information, and if the facts were really known there would 
be a much kindlier feeling and a far greater appreciation of what the cotton 
mills have done and are doing every day for the people who have cast their lot 
with the cotton mills and what the operatives themselves are doing. 

The cotton mills of the South, and particularly those of South Carolina— because 
this State is foremost in the industry— have been the subject of a great many 
newspaper and magazine articles and public addresses. Many of those who have 
undertaken to present the conditions that exist here have been unfair, chiefly be- 
cause they have not gotten facts but have used the distorted data of sensation- 
alists. 



Some few have been just. It would be senseless to undertake in the series of 
articles that it is proposed to publish to reply to the excited or hysterical writ- 
ings of some of the women and space writers who have falsely pictured cotton mill 
conditions. Controversy of this kind can do no good, although the temptation is very 
strong to enter into a discussion with some of these agitators and pseudo phil- 
anthropists who do not seek or write the truth, but come with motes in their 
eyes. They probably would not describe conditions as they really exist here, 
because such writings would not be sensational enough to attract editors who are 
looking for copy with "human interest," or furnish material for a "grand stand" 
play for some who are seeking votes from the laboring masses. 

For two months I have visited every cotton mill in South Carolina regardless 
of their location* bent upon finding out what are the actual conditions of the mills 
and the people, how they are prospering, and more especially what the operatives 
are doing for themselves, how they are treated, how they are paid, how they live, 
what they hope for and what their ambitions in life really are. 

It has been an absorbing and I hope profitable study. A great many things that 
I have seen and heard I trust will be of interest to the people of South Carolina, 
and through these articles it is my hope to present them in such plain, unvar- 
nished language that every one can understand the actual conditions in and about 
our cotton mills. Everything perhaps is not exactly as it ought to be, and if 
the shortcomings came within the range of my observations I expect to write of 
them without prejudice or color. 

In my investigations throughout the State I have gone to the big mills at Pel- 
zer, Pacolet, Piedmont, Union, Columbia, Lancaster and Spartanburg; I have vis- 
ited the out of town mills at Whitney and other points. I have spent days of 
inquiry at Greenville and Spartanburg, at Lancaster, at Rock Hill, at Orange- 
burg, at Bennettsville, at McColl, at Graniteville— in the Horse Creek Valley— New- 
berry, and indeed, my purpose has been to visit typical mills, both large and small. 
My investigation has included the mills of the Piedmont as well as those of the 
Pee-Dee; those in the high hills of Lancaster as well as those in the low lands 
of Orangeburg; those making the coarsest of cloth fabrics as well as those at. 
Spartanburg and Columbia making the finest of women's muslins. 

If I have failed to get at the real conditions of the mills and more particularly 
of the operatives; and if I fail to present the facts it is not because I have not 
made an earnest effort to get them. In my inquiries I have not accepted the 
statements at "the office," but I have spent days among the workers, going into 
their homes, talking with them in the villages and in their home circle. 

The more I see and read on this subject the more I am persuaded that very 
little attention has been paid to the history of the early efforts to establish cot- 
ton mills in this State. South Carolina has an abundant reason to be proud of 
the struggles of the pioneers in this great industry as she has to-day to boast 
of the conspiciuos place she occupies in the modern era of cotton manufacturing. 
I hope to say something interesting on the subject of the early history and de- 
velopment of cotton mills in this State. 

Then I want to show how the mills have grown year by year and prospered. 

The real backbone of the mill industry as of any other is obviously workers— 
the "men behind the guns," so to speak, and it is my purpose to tell the people 
who these workers are, where they sprang from, how they live, what they do, 
how they dress, what they save, if anything; how they invest their money; what 
their religion, how they care for their children and of such things as I believe 






the reading public and the thinking people of to-day want to know. Then I want 
to write something about the sanitary conditions and physique of these thousands 
of people, the effects of mill work, what they do for themselves, what is being 
done for them from humanitarian, or some may say, selfish business considera- 
-jtions, by those who give them employment and use their labor. 

In another article I want to write about the great and substantial development 
of what is commonly known as "welfare work." How the cotton mills have spent 
their money for schools, teachers, kindergartens, churches, lyceums, libraries and 
amusement halls and even swimming pools, and co-operated in providing pleas- 
ures for their help. Then I want to say something about the conditions and the 
pay of the cotton mills as compared with the conditions and pay of these same 
people before they went to the cotton mills from their little mountain farms or 
elsewhere, and show how and why the average pay per day has increased until 
to-day it is more than 40 per cent higher than it was five years ago. 

The problem to-day with the cotton mills is that of labor as it is with the 
farms and generally throughout the country. There are more spindles and looms 
in the country than there are people to work them. The result is that help has 
to be "spread out thin." The question is whether this scarcity of labor can best 
be met by foreign labor, the importation of Southern help, or whether the condi- 
tions will adjust themselves, and if on account of the lack of labor there is to be 
no further substantial development and growth of the cotton mill industry. This 
question of labor is really the most important from both the manufacturer's and 
consumer's standpoint. 

"Child labor" is regarded by many as overshadowing all others. It is the favor- 
ite topic with outside writers and I have made diligent inquiry into it; the 
causes of "child labor," the effectiveness of the existing statutes, the efforts of 
the mill officers to enforce the law, the views of the parents and the children 
and the tendency of high wages and prosperity to keep the younger members of 
the families out of the mills and finally the utter necessity, alas, too often, ne- 
cessity to work little ones "to keep body and soul together." I have undertaken 
to gather data on very many phases of mill life, and my only fear is that the 
details may be tiresome, but is only by such details that actual conditions can 
be presented for others to draw their own conclusions and in after years to have 
an appreciation of what part the cotton mills and their tens of thousands of 
workers play in the history and progress of the State. 




ARTICLE II.— Historical. 

It is admitted on all sides that South Carolina holds first place among the 
Southen States in the development of the cotton mill industry. 

When the true history of the cotton mills is written it will be found that 
South Carolina was probably the very first State to undertake the development 
of cotton manufacturing - . From what can be gathered it is safe, historically, to 
date the development from 1790, when cotton mill machinery was built along 
English lines. Various writers hold that the power loom was not used in England 
until 1806, and that it was not until 1812 or after that the power loom came into 
use in America. 

It is perhaps just to concede to Slater the distinction of going into cotton mills 
in a business-like way, but the claim that the first mill built was erected at 
Beverly, Mass, in 1787 is questionable and the distinction of having the first 
cotton mill most probably belongs to South Carolina, as well as does the distinc- 
tion of being now foremost in their development among the Southern States. 

The cotton manufacturers have had a rough road to travel in South Carolina. 
Prior to the war the chief difficulty was on account of the prejudices against 
cotton mills, and the belief that the labor could be more profitably used on the 
farms. Up to the close of the war colored slave labor was very largely used in 
cotton mills. After the terrible struggle brought about by the war between the 
States and reconstruction there was no money with which to build cotton mills. 
It was not until the early eighties that the cotton mill industry was given the 
impetus by such men as Hammett, Converse, Montgomery, McCaughrin and 
Smyth, protagonists in an industry that has led up to the present era of pros- 
perity and given this State more than three-and-a-half million active spindles. 

But something of the early history of the industry in South Carolina would 
not be out of place here. 

In looking over Gregg's "History of the Old Cheraws" this interesting refer- 
ence, from a Charles Town Gazette of December 22, 1768, establishing the fact 
that cotton goods were made in this State as early as 1768, will be of especial 
interest: "A gentleman of St David's Parish, in this province, writes to his 
correspondent in Charles Town: 'I expect to see our own manufactures much 
promoted in this part of the province. I send you some samples of what hath 
been already done upon this river and in this parish. The sample of white cotton 
was made in the proportion of twelve yards to one pound of cotton. Hemp, flax 
and cotton may be raised here in any quantity; as to wool, one cannot have much 
of it.' " 

Later on the Gazette of March 2, 1769, says that cotton goods were still being 
manufactured, and that there was a growing demand for such products. This 
reference reads: 

"It was stated in the Gazette of March 2. 1769, that, 'Many of the inhabitants 
of the north and eastern parts of this province have this winter clothed them- 
selves in their own manufactures; many more would purchase them if they could 
be got; and a great reform is intended in the enormous expense attending funer- 
als, for mourning, etc, from the patriotic example lately set by Christopher Gads- 
den, Esq, when he buried one of the best of wives and most excellent of women. 



In short the generality of the people now seem deeply impressed with an idea of 
the necessity, and most heartily disposed, to use every means to promote indus- 
try, economy and American manufactures and to keep as much money amongst 
us as possible.' " 

In 1770 there seems to have been a general movement towards developing the 
State along manufacturing lines, and a committee to establish and promote 
manufactures in the province was organized, with Henry Laurens, Esq, as chair- 
man and treasurer of the organization. Petitions were circulated for the raising of 
money and it appears that considerable funds were raised for the promotion of 
manufacturing in this State at that time. £ 

There evidently was considerable manufacture of cloth goods in this province 
prior to and during the Revolutionary period. In those days it does not appear 
to have been popular to organize corporations and the manufacturing was done 
by individuals— most of the planters being amply able to conduct such operations. 

Governor Glen, in his "Answers to the Lords of Trade," reprinted by "Weston 
in his "Documents Connected with South Carolina," on page 86 of Weston, under 
the heading "A List of all Such Goods as are Usually Imported," Governor Glen 
says: "Linens of all kinds, from cambrics to Osnaburgs, of the manufacturing of 
Germany, England, Scotland and Ireland, to a great value, being all that are used 
here, EXCEPT A FEW MADE BY THE IRISH TOWNSHIP OF WILLIAMS- 
BURGH, LIKE IRISH LINNEN." 

Governor Glen was appointed Governor in 1739; recalled January, 1755, and his 
report was probably written in 1748 or 1749, as 1748 is the last year of which he 
gives statistics in several tabulated statements. This clearly indicates that even 
at this early date (1748) that the Carolina colonists were manufacturing cloth 
goods, at least for home consumption. F 
17 I have before me a letter, dated Charles Town, February 19, 1777, and written 
by Daniel Hey ward, the father of Thomas Hey ward, Jr, who was one of the signers 
of the Declaration of Independence from South Carolina. This letter was ad- 
dressed to Mr Thomas Heyward, Jr, who was then attending a session of the Conti- 
nental Congress, and in it Daniel Hey wards says: "My manufactory goes on 
bravely, but fear the want of cards will put a stop to it, as they are not to be got; 
if they were, there is not the least doubt but that we could make six thousand' 
yards of cloth in the year from the time we began." 

This certainly shows that the Hey wards conducted a considerable plant for 
the manufacture of cloth goods; and no doubt other individual planters made 
their own cotton goods in the same way, because the United States Government 
Reports indicate that up to 1810 all of the established plants throughout the entire 
country made less than one million yards of cloth goods, while the planters and 
individuals made for "family use' more than fifteen million yards of cloth goods. 
The industry was evidently then largely due to personal initiative. 

In the South Carolina and American General Gazzette of Thursday, January 30, 
1777, there is this interesting evidence of the substantial development, of cotton 
spinning and weaving among our people: "We are well informed that a planter 
to the northward, who three months ago had not a negro that could either spin 
or weave, has now thirty hands constantly employed,, from whom he gets 120 yards 
of a good, wearable stuff,' made of woollen and cotton, every week. He has only 
one white woman to instruct the negroes in spinning, and one man to instruct in 
weaving. He expects to have it in his power not only to clothe his own negroes, 
but soon to supply his neighbors. The following so laudable an example will be 



the most effectual method of lessening the present exorbitant prices of cloth." 

There is abundant reason to believe that in 1887 Mrs Ramage, a widower, living 
on James Island, Charleston District, South Carolina, established a regular cotton 
mill, which was operated by mule power. The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser 
of Charleston, in its issue of January 24, 17S9, contains this news item: "It is with 
genuine pleasure we mention that Mrs Ramage has commenced the manufacture 
of cotton cloth, on James Island, which we sincerely hope will meet with that 
encouragement and support which will enable her to carry it on to such an extent 
as may induce others to follow so industrious and laudable an example, and which 
may render in a few years the importation of manufactures almost unnecessary. It 
is obvious to the discerning that the raw materials can be raised in this State 
on preferable terms to others that it must seem surprising manufactures of vari- 
ous kinds are not now adopted, as they certainly would be more advantageous 
to the citizens at large than any other species of speculation." Some doubt has 
been cast upon this venture of Mrs Ramage, because there is no trace of the plant 
to be found at this time, Mr A. S. Salley, Jr, secretary of the South Carolina His- 
torical Commission, advises me that there were a number of Ramages living in 
Charleston during that period and that a Mrs Ramage was a tavern keeper there. 
( My inquiries have been directed as to the conditions of the mills to-day, and 
this historical chapter is purely incidental and is given with the hope that it will 
lead to further research. 

The histories of the cotton mill industry have generally credited the starting 
of the industry in South Carolina in 1790, but, as has been shown, there evidently 
was considerable manufacture prior to this time; but the historical workers are 
now paying credit to South Carolina as having had the first "Arkwright Cotton 
Mill in America," because they find reference to such a plant in English publi- 
tions. 

I take from the American Museum. VIII, Appendix, IV, page II, July 1, 1790, 
this really interesting item: 

A gentleman of great mechanical knowledge and instructed in most of the 
branches of cotton manufacture in Europe, has already fixed, completed and 
now at work on the high hills of the Santee, near Statesburg, and which go by 
water, ginning, (?) carding and slabbing machines; also spinning machines, with 
84 spindles each, and several other useful implements for manufacturing every 
necessary article in cotton. There is also a fulling and dressing mill for fine and 
coarse woollens established and at work on Fishing Creek, near the Catawba 
River, in full employ by the neighboring spinners and weavers, where woollens, 
are dried, pressed and finished with great neatness by artists from Great Britain." 

It is evident that the manufacture of cloth goods in this State took permanent 
shape before the beginning of the nineteenth century. Hammond, in his excel- 
lent Handbook, page 574, has this statement with reference to the early efforts 
in cotton manufacturing: 

"Before and during the Revolution the families of planters and their slaves 
were clothed in cotton homespuns made in the State. A factory, weaving these 
goods for the supply of the adjacent country, was established some years previous 
to 1790, by the Scotch-Irish setlers, at Murray's Ferry, Williamsburg County, anu 
Mr Benjamin Waring established, in the later part of the last century, a cotton 
factory near Statesburg, for spinning and weaving "Manchester cotton stuffs." 
There is an interesting and full account of this plant in Drayton's "View of South 
Carolina," 1802, page 149-50. 



I have before me an article from the Southern Quarterly Review for July, 18,45, 
page 145, which gives some interesting information regarding this early Statesburg 
effort, which is twice referred to in the early efforts along these lines. Mr John 
B. Miller in 1845 wrote: 

"Mr Roper tells us, in his address, that Wm Mayrant, of Sumter, was the first 
individual who attempted the establishment of a cotton manufactory in South 
Carolina. This, however, is a mistake, as appears from the following extract of 
a letter from Sumterville, in this State, published in the Charleston Courier of 
February 26, 1845, giving some reminiscences of a manufactory established in 
that vicinity more than half a century ago: 

"Permit me to give you some account of a cotton manufactory that once was 
in operation near Statesburg, Sumter district, S. C, about five miles south of said 
village, on the road to Charleston, on or near the plantation of Mr Benj "Warren, 
(Waring,) deceased. It was commenced in 1789 or 1790, by Mr John McNair, (my 
stepfather,) Mr B. Waring, I think, also. Mr George I'oor, Mr Templeton and Mr 
Rogers. The machinery was made in North Carolina. There was a carding ma- 
chine—I think for spinning— a reel that would reel 18 hanks. It remained a few 
years at the above place, and the copartnership was dissolved, and the carding, 
two spinning machines and the reel were removed to the plantation of Mr McNair, 
near Statesburg, on a plantation new belonging to the heirs of Mrs Rutledge, 
deceased. It was there worked a few years. Mrs McNair died and the machin- 
ery was sold to some person in Lincolmon, N. C. At this manufactory was man- 
ufactured huckaback, fustian, corduroy, jeans, bed ticking, bed quilts, figured and 
colored, plain white homespun and cotton . stockings. Much cotton was spun 
for persons in the vicinity. Some long staple cotton was imported from the West 
Indies. I was very young at the time, therefore, have not as full a knowledge 
of the same as I could wish. If the above will be of any use, or will impart any in- 
formation on this subject, you are at liberty to make this public. 

"I am, sir. respectfully yours, 5 John B. Miller. 

r 

"N. B.— T.here was a nail and weeding hoe establishment in Sumter district, near 
this place." 

It is perhaps noteworthy, and too much cannot be said about the early encour- 
agement that the cotton mill industry received in this State, and I should like 
very much to have the opportunity of writing a great deal more than I am now 
going to do, because of restricted space, on what was done by this State toward 
encouraging cotton planting and the manufacturing process.} 

In the early history of the State, as was the general custom of the times, lot- 
teries, with the approval of the State Government, were quite popular; in fact, an> 
one looking over the early statutes will find that money was raised for the build- 
ing of the Episcopal Church at Georgetown, for the Second Presbyterian Church 
in Charleston and for a church in Greenville, as well as for Trinity, and the First 
Presbyterian Church in Columbia by means of public lotteries. It was, therefore, 
not considered "bad form" to have a lottery for the "encouraging of manufactor- 
ing in this State;" and in the statutes of 1795 I find an Act "to authorize a lottery, 
the profits whereof shall be appropriated to the promotion of useful manufactures 
in this State." I quote the first paragraph of the statute, because of the impor- 
tance of the State's aid to cotton manufacturing. The Act follows: 

"Whereas, William McClure hath petitioned the Legislature to assist him in 
establishing a cotton manufactory in this State, and it would be very advantage- 
ous to this State to have useful manufactories established in the same: 



£ 



10 

"I. Be it therefore enacted, by the honorable the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the 
same, That a lottery shall be established and drawn, and finally concluded and 
completed, the profits whereof, after deducting the necessary expenses attending 
the same, shall be applied towards the promotion of useful manufacture in this 
State; that a profit shall be raised by the said lottery not exceding the sum of 
eight hundred pounds; that Thomas Lehje, William Turpin, Col Thomas Taylor, 
John G. Guignard, Benj Waring, John Simpson and John Hunter, shall be, and 
they hereby are appointed, commissioners to conduct and manage the same; and 
the said commissioners, or any "three of them, shall adopt such scheme or schemes 
for the purpose aforesaid as they may judge most proper, and shall appoint such 
time and place for drawing the same as they may think advisable. 

"II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the said com- 
sioners shall pay unto the said William McClure four hundred pounds out 
of the profits of the said lottery, two hundred to be paid as soon as they shall 
receive a sufficient amount to enable them to .pay the same with propriety^ and 
the remainder to be paid when the said lottery shall be drawn and completely 
concluded: Provided, that the said commissioners shall, in trust for the State, 
previously taken from the said William McClure an obligation or obligations 
under penalty' of twice the amount paid to him, with such security as they 
shall deem sufficient, • with a condition that he shall, within a certain time, by them 
to be ascertained, erect and complete a manufacture of cotton into what is com- 
monly called and known by the name of Manchester wares, in which manufacture 
the said William McClure shall constantly employ and instruct at least as many 
as seven white persons for the term of seven years. 

"III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the said com- 
missioners shall hold the rest of the profits of the said lottery, and shall apply 
them towards the promotion of such useful manufactory or manufactories as they 
may think deserving their donation or support, taking care to require and take 
from every person to whom they pay any part of the said profits such a bond or 
bonds as they are directed to take from the said William McClure: Provided, that 
no appropriation of remaining at the disposal of the commissioners shall be made 
without the concurrence of five or more of the commissioners appointed hy this 
Act. 

"In the Senate and House the 12th day of December, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand, seven hundred and ninety-five, and in the twentieth year of the 
independence of the United States of America. 

"David Ramsey, President of the Senate. 
/ "Robert Barnwell, Speaker of the House of Representatives." f 

( Of course every one remembers that South Carolina appropriated $50,000 for the 
purchase of the patent rights of Messrs Miller & Whitney for what is now 
known as the Whitney gin. This was the substantial encouragement that South 
Carolina gave to Eli Whitney as early as 1801 towards the development of his 
patent for "cleaning the staple of cotton from seed." 

In the office of the Secretary of State at Columbia there is a volume, entitled 
"Georgia Grants," on the first page of which is this inscription: 

Register Books of the Titles of Books to be Published in the State of South 
Carolina, kept in pursuance of an Act of the Legislature of the said State passed 
the 26th day of March, 1784— entitled an Act for the Encouragement of Arts and 
Sciences. 



11 

On the three succeeding pages copvrights and patents are recorded, after 
which such recording was discontinued, arid the' remainder of the volume 
was used to record the plats and grants of such lands lying on the north 
side of the Toogaloo, as had been granted to settlers by Georgia authorities under 
the impression that the territory lying between the Toogaloo and Keowee rivers 
belonged to Georgia. 1. 
T?" This is a copy relating to the cotton industry and shows the early efforts in 
this State: 

On the 13th day of March, 1739, Hugh Templeton has deposited in the .Secre- 
tary's office two plans, one said to be "a complete draft of a carding machine that 
will card eighty pounds of cotton per day;" the other , "a complete draft of a 
spinning machine, with eighty-four spindles, that will spin with. one man's attend- 
ance ten pounds of good cotton yarn per day." 

On the 1st of April, 1789, John Curry, of the City ' of Charleston, has de- 
posited in the Secretary's office a model of a machine for picking' or ginning 
cotton. - 

Again, there is in the appropriation bill for 1809 a paragraph emphasing the 
desire of this State to foster cotton manufactures. It reads: "To Ephraim Mc- 
Bride, to be advanced to him on the conditipns contained in a resolution of this 
branch of the Legislature, to enable him to construct a spinning machine on the 
principles mentioned in a patent he holds from the United States, one thousand 
dollars." 

The records show that about 1809 there was a factory "for making check goods, 
handkerchiefs at Charleston, which turned out some very pretty goods." 

In 1808 the homespun fad seems to have become acute, and the resolutions of 
the House of Representatives for that year show that at the June session a reso- 
lution was passed that all members of the General Assembly should appear during 
the sessions clad in homespun suits. 

The next year, 1809, the Homespun Company of South Carolina made an effort 
to "secure an appropriation on account of another patent, but the effort failed, as 
this paragraph from the resolutions of that year indicate: "Report of the commit- 
tee on incorporations on the petition of John Johnson, Jr. president of the Home- 
spun Company of South Carolina. That they have considered the same and can- 
not recommend the granting the loan prayed for; but do recommend that the 
said South Carolina Homespun Company be allowed until" the next meeting of 
the Legislature to report on the utility of the machine called the Columbia Spin- 
ster, so as to entitle, in case the same be approved, the inventor of the same to 
the sum provided by law for his benefit." 

The South Carolina Homespun Company of Charleston, (1808) was the most im- 
portant and pretentious undertaking in the cotton mill industry up to that time. 
Dr John L. E. W. Shecut appears to have been the moving spirit in this enterprise. 
He was elected president of the corporation at a meeting of the promoters, held 
the 26th of September. 1808, and from that time on there are considerable refer- 
ences concerning this enterprise. The exercises incident to the laying of the cor- 
ner-stone brought out a gathering of three thousand people, and the occasion 
seems to have been one of great importance in Charleston. The address at the 
laying of the cdrner-stone was delivered by the Right Worshipful William 
Loughton Smith, but unfortunately the address, which I had copied from 
the Charleston Courier of October 31. 1808, gives practically no facts, but is a 
general dissertation on the beauties of labor and the glories of the State of 



12 

South Carolina. About the only real fact in the entire address is contained in this 
paragraph: "You have just witnessed the ceremony of laying- the corner-stone of 
the first edifice, intended for domestic manufactures, on a great scale, in this part 
of the Union; and you have witnessed the interesting ceremony with emotions 
corresponding with the dignity and solemnity of the occasion. Permit me to con- 
gratulate you, and my country at large, on this first step towards the completion 
of an establishment, from which, in view of the cold support from doubting friends 
and the warm opposition of decided foes, we may entertain flattering anticipations 
of the most successful results." 

( It is interesting, one hundred years after the delivery of what was a memora- 
ble address, to read what Mr Smith, the head of the Masonic Order at that time. 
said about the prospective cotton mill. Here is one of the climaxes of his ad- 
dress: 

"Here will be found a never failing asylum for the friendless orphans and the 
bereft widows, the distribution of labor and the improvements in machinery hap- 
pily combining to call into profitable employment the tender services of those who 
have just sprung from the cradle, as well as those who are tottering to the grave; 
thus training up the little innocents to early and wholesome habits of honest in- 
dustry, and smoothing the wrinkled front of decrepitude with the smiles of com- 
petency and protection. Here, too, will be found an everlasting refuge for those 
unfortunates of other climes, expatriated, with their useful talents, by the iron 
hand of unrelenting despotism, or the intolerable pressure of taxation and hunger 
and wafted by the sighs of fellow misery to seek liberty and bread on these happy 
shores." 

I am advised by Major Edward "Willis, of Charleston, who is a grandson of Dr 
Shecut, that the Carolina Homespun Company's plant is now used by the Barton 
Lumber Company and that the original building, which was of brick, is still stand- 
ing, and is in use by the Barton Company at its plant on the Ashley River, at 
the foot of Wentworth street. 

The South Carolina Homespun Company was organized with a capital stock 
of $30,000, but evidently this was not sufficient with which to operate the plant, 
because during the session of 1810 the General Assembly authorized a lottery to be 
conducted for the raising of money with which to complete the plant, provided, 
"there shall not be raised by means of this lottery a sum exceeding $18,000." 

Credit is due to the men who withstood general opposition, and invested their 
money in the initial plant in Charleston, and I am here quoting the inscription 
which was on the northwest corner of the plant of the Carolina Homespun Com- 
pany: 

"This stone was laid on Monday, 
24th October, 1808, 

by "- ; 

Dr John JL. E. W. Shecut, President, 
and 
Johnathan Lucas, Jr— Col Daniel Stevens. 
John Johnson, Jr— C. B. Cochran. 

Thos Bennett, Jr— Major Robert Howard. ^AjO^^ 
John Horlbeck, Jr— Dr Joseph Kirkland. ^ 

Directors J/ 
While this industry was taking some shape on the coast there also appears to 
have been an effort to establish cotton mills in the Piedmont section, and this ex- 



13 

tract from the resolutions of 1812 indicates how the General Assembly co-oper- 
ated with enterprising- citizens of Greenville district in the efforts to establish a 
plant in upper Carolina. 

The Legislative committee reports : "The committee to whom was referred 
the petition of certain persons praying aid to enable them to establish a cotton 
manufactory, having had the same under consideration, respectfully report: 

"That from the information given them it appears that the purpose of the pe- 
titioners is to establish at some suitable place in Greenville district a manufactory 
for carding, spinning and weaving cotton, the machinery to be impelled by water, 
the number of spindles to be employed, not less than 500, which is calculated will 
prepare thread sufficient for weaving 250 yards of cloth per day. The sum with 
which the petitioners pray to be aided is $10,000, to be repaid with 7 per cent in- 
terest, one-half at the expiration of two years, the balance at the "expiration of 
three years; and the said payment to be secured to the State by a mortgage of 
real estate, of the value of not less than $100,000. The committee, therefore, im- 
pressed with the importance of encouraging domestic manufactories, and believing 
that the small loan solicited may be extended to the petitioner without incon- 
venience or loss to the State, recommend that the prayer of the petitioner be 
granted, and that a clause to that effect be inserted in the appropriation bill." 
The plant seems to have been established, but what became of it is not recorded. £~ 
18 From this time>on the development seems to have been more or less spas- 
modic, but the industry was going through its experimental period in this State 
and meanwhile it was being hammered at by the real leaders among Carolinians. 

Calhoun and Langdon Cheves and the others who were conspicuous in their 
leadership really thought that cotton mills had no place in the economic develop- 
ment of South Carolina. Jefferson was bitterly opposed in his early days to cot- 
ton mills, and John Randolph in an address said that "the coton mills in the 
South would bring yellow fever, not in August merely, but from June to Jan- 
uary, and from Januray to June." 

Langdon Cheves, who was a leader cf exceeding popularity, is quoted in the 
Southern Quarterly Review for 1845 as having said that "manufacturing should be 
the last resort of industry in every country, for one forced as with us, they serve 
no interests but those of the capitalists who set them in motion, and their imme- 
diate localities." This expression was not peculiar to any one class of leaders 
in South Carolina at that time. 

About 1816 New England settlers went to the upper part of Carolina and laid 
the foundation for the tens of thousands of spindles which were in due course 
of time to hum in the Piedmont belt. Among these pioneers who went to the 
foot hills of the Blue Ridge were George Hill and Leonard Hill, W. B. Sheldon 
and Clark, "William Bates, who was the grandfather of Mr J. D. Hammett, the 
present successful president of the Chiquola Cotton Mills at Honea Path; John 
Weaver and James Edward Henry. All of these men came about the same time, 
and several of them came together. It is most interesting to follow the work of 
these New Englanders, who came to this State to try to make a success of man- 
ufacturing "cotton thread." It is not essential whether the Hills or the Weavers 
started their factory first, but it is evident that the Hill factory, which was be- 
gun by Leonard Hill and John Clark, and which was probably the Industry Manu- 
facturing Company, was started about the same time as the plant which was 
erected by Phillip "Weaver, Lindsay Weaver, Thos Hutchings, William Bates and 



14 

John Stack. They both started their machinery about 1818. Mr R. Furman Whil- 
den, of O'Neall's, thinks that the "Weavers started their factory first, and that 
the Hills were just a little later than the Weavers. The Weavers borrowed money 
from W. G. Davis and Col Nathaniel Gist, and failed in 1819, when the Court rec- 
ords show that a judgment for $12,000 was secured against them, but they con- 
tinued to run the mill until 1821, when Weaver appears to have gone to Greenville 
County— his first plant having been erected on the Tyger River; and a short dis- 
tance from this was the plant of Leonard Hill and John Clark. 

Landrum in his history of Spartanburg is rather inclined to give the Hills the 
credit of having established the first cotton mill in Spartanburg County on the 
banks of Beaver Dam. and it is his opinion that the "Burnt Factory," which is 
the plant of the Weavers, was built a little later, but Mr Whilden is decidedly of 
the opinion that the Weavers and Bate's Mill was the first to be built in Spar- 
tanburg. 

Neither of these plants exist to-day, but the property on which Leonard Hill 
built his first mill now belongs to the Enoree Manufacturing Company, one of 
the most prosperous corporations in Spartanburg County. William Bates, who 
was the father of Miss Bates, who married Col H. P. Hammett, the founder of 
Piedmont, tried his fortune at Rutherford. ' C, came back to South Carolina 
and took charge of a local cotton miU which as afterwards known as the Bates- 
ville Mill, and which is now in successful operation by Mrs Mary P. Gridley, the 
only woman I know who is the president of a factory. The present plant 
seems to have been started in 1848, although the site had previously been used 
for cotton manufacturing. In 1848 William Bates put in two spinning frames; and 
in 1858 this was followed by another plant on the other side of the stream, now 
known as Pelham. The building was burned in March, 1881, but was immediately 
rebuilt with a brick building in which the present operations are conducted." 

The Hill factory in 1816 or 1817 contained 700 spindles and of course it is to be 
remembered that all of the machinery had to be hauled from Charleston to 
Spartanburg County by wagon. Hill died in 1840. The Rev Thos Hutchings, who 
was associated with Wm Bates and Weavers in the original enterprise, seems to 
have been a man of action in his day and generation. After his experience with 
the Burnt Factory, he went to Pelham, where he erected a mill which began op- 
erations in 1822. At this time Pelham was known as Lester's Ford. Later on 
Hutchings sold his plant on the Enoree and built near Batesville about 1833. And 
again in 1837 he built on South Tyger, at what is known as Cedar Hill. £ 

As to the development in Greenville County, Col S. S. Crittenden writes me his 
personal recollections as follows: 

"I can only tell you from my recollection, which goes back to about 1835, that 
at that time, in my early boyhood, there were three old cotton mills in Green- 
ville County. One was Vardry McBee's, on Reedy River, six miles from the vil- 
lage, which operated spinning cotton yarn for many years before and after the 
war. After various changes this mill is still in successful operation, and, of 
course, much enlarged, as "Reedy River Cotton Mill" under the presidency of Mr 
James H. Maxwell. 

"The Weaver Mill was established and owned by Mr John Weaver, a Northern 
man, who built it on a small creek, tributary of Tyger River, nineteen miles 
north of the then village of Greenville. This was successfully operated before 
and during the war by Mr Weaver, and for several years after his death by his 
widow. Since her death the property has been sold or divided, and the old cotton 
yarn mill discontinued. 



15 

'•The Batesville Cotton Mill was established by Mr William Bates, a New Eng- 
land man, I suppose in about 1830. It was on the waters of Enoree River, ten miles 
east of Greenville. After changing owners several times it is still in successful 
operation with the distinction of having the only woman cotton mill president in 
the State— Mrs M. P. Gridley." £ 

The leading spirit in the development of cotton mills in the Piedmont sectiop 
was D. E. Converse, who went to Bivingsville in February, 1855. The story of 
this Bivingsville development and of Mr Converse is of enough interest and im- 
portance to command an entire chapter, but it would be impracticable to go into 
such detail, this historical sketch having already exceded the limit set for this 
branch of my investigations. 

It might be mentioned that Bivingsville subsequently became Glendale, and is 
now the site of the D. E. Converse Company property. In 1849 Mr Jas Finger built 
the Fingerville plant, on North Pacolet River. 

The records of the time indicate that there was a cotton mill erected at Pendle- 
ton as early as 1828 and subsequently that there was a plant located there in 1838. 
The Rev Wm H. Mills, pastor of the Fort Hill Presbyterian Church, who is him- 
self much interested, tells me that his "Pendleton Factory," which is located at 
Autun, near Pendleton, was begun March 1st, 1838, and that it was built by Mr 
B. F. Sloan, Thos Sloan and Berry Benson." Mr Mills states that this mill made 
yarns and coarse and heavy cloth, weighing about one-half pound to the yard. It 
was capitalized at $50,000, and utilized white labor. It was run by water power, and 
it is altogether likely that Mr Mills's claim that this is the oldest mill in the 
South, in continuous operation, is correct, fe 

. The files of newspapers in the library of the University of South Carolina give 
many interesting side lights on the early history of cotton mills, and one of the 
most interesting articles refers to the plant of Gen David R. "Williams, who 
seems to have operated a successful cotton mill near Society Hill, in Darlington 
County, on the waters of Cedar Creek. In the Columbia Telescope, of March 13, 
1829, there occurs this timely editorial: 

"In the advertising department will be found an advertisement of Gen Williams 
on the subject of his cotton factory, from which it will be seen that it is now in 
operation. The large capital and the great intelligence and energy of Gen Wil- 
liams will make this a thorough experiment on the capacity of slave labor for 
manufacturing. It it shall be successful, and large capitals be invested in this 
way, we may expect an immediate repeal of the tariff. Our Nothern brethern 
will no more consent to the competition of our manufacture than to that of Eu- 
rope. We are well satisfied that whatever direction may be given to the capital and 
labor of the South, if it is successful, will be legislated upon for the advantage 
of the North without the slightest compunction for the injury it may bring us. 
This is the settled policy of the majority. In the meantime, however, we wish 
Gen Williams all possible success in his spirited effort to develop the resources of 
the State; and besides the reward which a public spirited exertion carries with 
it, we hope he will ;also realize (what he, we know, will regard as secondary to it) 
his prospects of individual emolument." 

Later on in May of 1829 there is a discussion as to the price of manufactured 
yarns, and some one, signing himself "Consumer," suggests that 25c per pound 
for Williams's cotton yarn was rather high, but the editor of the Telescope thinks 
that it is reasonable. In the Telescope of Friday, November 6, 1829, Gen Williams 
publishes correspondence between himself and John Branch, Secretary of the 



16 

Navy, the purport of which is that Mr Williams suggests to the Secretary of the 
Navy the possible use of cotton rope in connection with the rigging of war ves- 
sels, and Mr Branch promises to experiment with the samples of rope sent him 
by Gen Williams. 

In closing this chapter it may be very well to refer to Mills's Statistics, which 
was published in 1826, and to say that in this compilation the only cotton mills 
in South Carolina referred to were that of Gen David R. Williams, near Society 
Hill, two mills in Spartanburg district, and that of Mr Garrison, in Pendleton dis- 
trict. Greenville does not at that time appear to have had any cotton mills, and 
under the head of Spartanburg is this statement: "Two cotton factories are es- 
tablished on Tyger River, which do very good business." These are evidently the 
plants built by the Hills and the Weavers. In the review of manufactures in Mills's 
Statistics for the State (1826) there were only four cotton plants recorded; but 
the various counties report that there was considerable cloth woven for local 
consumption. Under the head of manufactures in Georgetown there appears this 
significant report: "The cultivation of rice and cotton in this district is too profit- 
able to permit much attention to be given to manufactures." 

Marion district reports that "labor is too valuable in raising cotton to be de- 
voted to manufacturing it into cloth." 

In the report from Sumter it is stated that: "During the last war there was a 
cotton factory established in this district, which spun much cotton, but it declined 
after its termination." So much for Mills. 

The Vaucluse Cotton Mill, which was incorporated in 1833, was one of the ear- 
liest successful ventures in South Carolina, and employed thirty white and twen- 
ty colored operatives, operating 1,500 spindles and twenty-five looms. 

Another of the early ventures was that of the Fisher Bros, who erected the 
first mill in Richland County, at what is now Dent's Pond, which was at that 
time called Sand Brook. Subsequently this venture was abandoned, and the Salu- 
da Factory, on the Lexington side of the river, which continued throughout the 
war, was later established and was operated largely by slave labor until the close 
of the war, when it was operated by white labor. Hammond, in his handbook, 
states that at the Saluda Factory, near Columbia, one white overseer was in 
charge of ninety negro slaves as operatives, and that these slaves were "capable 
of learning within reasonable limits." 

The real and the lasting development of cotton mills in South Carolina might 
be started with the Graniteville Cotton Mill at Graniteville, and the conspicuous 
figure in the effort to establish this plant, which has been in continuous operation 
since 1847, was Mr William Gregg, a merchant, who accumulated his fortune in 
the City of Charleston, and in a subsequent letter it shall be my purpose briefly 
to say something of him, and what he did towards giving the right start to the 
cotton mill industry in this State. 



ARTICLE III. -Early Development. 

I have traced the early development of the cotton mills down to the period 
when the far-seeing "William Gregg, the foremost Southern manufacturer of his 
•day, predicted the great future that was to be realized for the cotton mill indus- 
try. 

About this time the Saluda Cotton Factory, near Columbia, was operating five 
thousand spindles and one hundred and twenty looms on what has been known as 
brown shirtings and "Southern stripes," which was a kind of colored cloth used 
for servants' garments. At the same time there was in operation the DeKalb 
Mills, near Camden; the Vaucluse Mills, of which mention has already been made; 
the Mount Dearborn plant, on the Catawba River, and a yarn mill in Marlboro 
County. At the same time there were two mills in course of construction in the 
City of Charleston. One of these mills in Charleston is recorded as having had 
3,165 spindles and 100 looms, and it was operated by steam. 

About 1850 a mill, known as the Arlington Mill, is recorded as having been 
started in Spartanburg County. It is still in operation. The Saluda Company was 
organized in 1832, and its great difficulty was the lack of sufficient capital. Mr 
Gregg, in writing of the situation at Saluda, stated that it was capitalized at 
$50,000 and that the dam alone should have cost that much money, and that had a 
similar mill been built in the New England States at that time there would have 
been at least $400,000 capital in the treasury, before anything was undertaken. 

One of the most interesting pamphlet in connection with the early history of 
cotton mills is that of William Gregg, the founder of Graniteville, written in 
Charleston, January, 1845, and called "Essays on Domestic Industry." Another 
companion piece is an essay by Mr Gregg, entitled "An Enquiry into the Propriety 
of Granting Charters of Incorporation for Manufacturing and other Purposes in 
South Carolina." This pamphlet was originally issued under the nom de plume of 
"One Of The People." When it was issued in pamphlet form Mr Gregg put his 
name to the title page. It appears that up to this time the State was opposed 
to issuing charters to corporations as we now know them. In other words, for 
some time prior to the granting of the charter to the Graniteville Company in- 
vestors could not limit their liability by taking stock in corporations; but the 
idea was to secure individual responsibility or as copartners doing business, there- 
by involving full liability. 

Mr Gregg sought a charter for the Graniteville Company, and his series of 
letters showed the great advantage and possible development of cotton mills in 
this State. Mr Gregg presented the argument with his accustomed force, and had 
secured valuable data in support of his positions. Capt William A Courtenay, who 
knew Mr Gregg, tells me that the only reason that the charter was granted was 
because of the confidence that the leading men of the State had in Mr Gregg, and 
because of his personal pledge that he would subscribe to at least one-half of the 
stock cf the Graniteville Company. 

A few years afterwards I find this reference to the fight for the charter of the 
Graniteville Company, which was granted. In the Watchman, of Sumterville, Mr 
T. B. Fraser, one of the editors of the paper, in 1850, has this editorial: "On 
another column will be found the usual notice that an application will be made to 
our next Legislature for a cotton factory, to be situated in or near Sumterville. 



18 

A few years since when the applicatio of the Graniteville Company was before 
the Legislature, so great was the prejudice against manufactures that it received 
a favorable report from the committee on manufactures— a committee of nine 
intelligent legislators of South Carolina— only by a majority of ONE vote. The 
Act of incorporation was, however, passed, and tke result has been the establish- 
ment of the first factory in the Southern States, both as to quality and 
quantity of the articles manufactured— and which is, perhaps, at this time, the 
most profitable investment in the State." The Siumter enterprise was heartily com- 
mended. 

Mr Gregg was really, in very many ways, a wonderful man, and if one to-day 
were to read his argument and his reports he would be more convinced of this 
fact than ever. I have before me a copy of his fifth annual report as president 
of the Graniteville corporation to his stockholders, which is republished in De 
Bow's Review for 1855. In it he lays down these five essential causes for the failure 
of the cotton mill industry in this State: 

"The first is an injudicious selection of machinery, and of the kind of goods to 
be made. 

"The second is a lack of steady, efficient and cheap motive power. 
"The third is an injudicious location. 

"The fourth is the lack of proper effort for the religious and moral training 
of the operatives. 1 

"The fifth is to embark in such an enterprise without sufficient capital." 
How true these same pitfalls are to-day! 

The epoch marking periods in South Carolina in the cotton mill industry may 
be said to be 1847, when the Graniteville Company first put its goods on the mar- 
ket, and the early eighties, when Col Hammett, Mr Converse, Capt John H. Mont- 
gomery, Capt Ellison A. Smyth, Mr John B. Cleveland and others began to see 
the possibilities of this industry, put their money into it and began the extensive 
erection of cotton mills. The early efforts in South Carolina by such men as 
David R. "Williams, William Bates, Hutchings, Gibbes and others were simply blaz- 
ing the way to show the certainties of the industry. 

In 1847 the Telegraph, of Columbia, devotes considerable space to an editorial 
review of the State, and gives the following statement of the then operating cotton 
mills: 

"1, The De Kalb Cotton Factory, near Camden, doing a fine business. 
* "2. The Bivingsville Cotton Factory, near Spartanburg C. H., now the property 
of G. and E. C. Leitner— doing well. 

"3. A new establishment now being erected by Dr Biving, on a large scale— not 
yet in full operation— but, from the intelligence and energy of the proprietor, we 
have no doubt of his success. 

"4. The Saluda Factory, near Columbia, which has been undergoing repairs 
during the summer, but now again in operation, has been doing a fine business 
for the last three years. 

"5 The Vaucluse Factory, near Hamburg, under the management of Gen 
James Jones, we understand is doing well. 

"6. The Graniteville Factory, near Aiken, lately established, and under the 
management of that intelligent and patriotic citizen, William Gregg, Esq. His 
name alone is a guarantee of the success of the establishment. 

"7. The Fulton Factory, near Stateburg, . under the management of Col 
Dyson an enterprising and meritorious gentleman, is doing well. 



19 

"8. The Mount Dearborn Factory, on the Catawba, lately put in operation, 
under the management of its enterprising proprietor, Daniel McCullough, Esq, 
\s bound to succeed. 

"9. The Marlboro Yarn Factory, owned by Messrs Townsend and McQueen, 
and now leased to an enterprising, practical manufacturer from, the North. In 
this factory we understand none but white operatives are employed, but we have 
not been informed of its success since it has fallen into the hands of its present 
lessee. For several years previous under the management of M. Townsend, Esq, 
we believe it was doing well. The yarn manufactured at this establishment has 
been heretofore mostly contracted for at the North, and shipped and sold at a 
profit. 

"10. There is also a small factory at Society Hill, owned by Col Williams, 
from which he supplies his own plantation, and those of the surrounding neigh- 
borhood, with a very superior article of cotton bagging. He also ships yarn to 
a Northern market. 

"11. There is, besides, an extensive establishment of this kind now in progress 
of construction near Charleston, from which we have reason to expect the best 
results, and several minor establishments in the back country, where water power, 
equal to any in the world, abounds." ^ 

It may also be interesting to note that a number of cotton mills survived the 
war between the States. In an Almanac, issued by Joseph Walker, of Charleston, 
in 1867, I find the following list of cotton mills in South Carolina then (1867) in 
operation: 

"Batesville Manufacturing Company— Buena Vista, Greenville district, S. C. 
Runs 1,260 spindles, 36 looms and employs 50 operatives. James Montgomery, 
superintendent. 

"Lester Cotton Factory— Buena Vista, Greenville district, S. C. Runs 840 spin- 
dles, employs 30 operatives. Capacity to be doubled in a few months. 

"Graniteville Manufacturing Company— Graniteville, Edgefield district, S. C. 

Runs 10,000 spindles, 300 looms, employs 330 operatives. Wm Gregg, Sr, president; 

Wm Gregg, Jr, superintendent; H. H. Hickman, treasurer; J. H. Giles, secretary; 

Geo Kelly, agent. The capacity of these mills to be doubled in three months. 

"Kalmia Mills— Edgefield district, S. C, eight miles from Augusta, Ga. Runs 

10,000 spindles, 600 looms, employs operatives. Benjamin F. Evans, president, 

Aiken, S. C; E. J. Kerrison, treasurer; B. F. Mordecai, J. W. Grady, Dr J. J. 
Chisolm, directors. The Kalmia Paper Mills are under the same company. 

"Lawson's Fork Factory— Five miles east of Spartanburg, S. C. Runs 1,600 
spindles, 25 looms, 60 operatives. 

"Valley Falls Factory— On Lawson's Fork, five miles north of Spartanburg, S. 
C. Runs 500 spindles. 

"Fingerville Factory— On Pacolet River, 15 miles north of Spartanburg, S. C. 
Runs 500 spindles, 15 looms. Jos Finger, general agent. 

"Hill's Factory— On Tyger River, 13 miles south of Spartanburg, S. C. Runs 500 
spindles. Jas L. Hill, superintendent. 

"Cedar Hill Factory— On South Tyger River, 18 miles northwest of Spartan- 
burg, S. C. Runs 20 looms, 1,000 spindles. Lewis Green, superintendent 

"Grawfordville Factory— On Tyger River, 8 miles west of Spartanburg, S. C. 
Runs 20 looms, 1,000 spindles. J. Bivings, manager. 

"Barksdale Factory— On Enoree River, 20 miles south of Spartanburg, S. C. 
Runs 1,000 spindles, 50 operatives." r 



20 

Getting down to modern times, and to the real beginning of the present day- 
success, I find that The News and Courier in 1880—27 years ago— printed this accu- 
rate list of the cotton mills in South Carolina, together with their spindles and 
looms: 

Name. Spindles. 

1. Graniteville, Aiken 24,264 

2. Camperdown, Greenville 12,840 

3. Langley, Aiken ,11,880 

4. Piedmont, Greenville 10,624 

5. "Vaucluse, Aiken 10,000 

6. Saluda, Lexington 7,000 

7. Glendale, Spartanburg .' .... 5,000 

8. Reedy River, Greenville 2,600 

9. Fork Shoals, Greenville 2,000 

10. Buena Vista, Greenville and Spartanburg 2,000 

11. Red Bank, Lexington , 1,936 

12. Pendleton, Anderson 1,600 

13. Batesville, Greenville ' 1,152 

14. Fingerville, Spartanburg 1,000 

15. Cedar Hill, Spartanburg 800 

16. Valley Palls, Spartanburg 500 

17. Crawfordville, Spartanburg 480 

18. Westminster, Oconee 264 

95,938 
Looms 1,933 

To-day the list will be almost ten times as long, and the number of spindles, 
which is the basis of calculation for development, almost 400 times as great. There 
are to-day over 3,500,000 spindles in actual operation in South Carolina! 

In a subsequent letter it is my purpose to give a complete, and, I hope, accu- 
rate, list of all of the cotton mills in operation in this State, together with the 
number of spindles in operation, the number of looms and a great deal of kindred 
interesting data that I have procured directly from the mills. 

The evolution of the cotton mills in South Carolina has been exceedingly 
slow; partly because of slave labor being regarded as more profitable when em- 
ployed in growing cotton, and because white labor was not available to any extent 
for mill purposes; and for the further reason that the leaders of public thought 
were considerably prejudiced against manufacturing industries, and many of the 
intelligent people invested their money outside of the confines of the State. 

The plodders who brought the development up to such a point that it could 
possibly be used as a basis for "double quick" movement after 1880 were sucl* men 
as William Bates, the Weavers, and particularly William Gregg. 

The revolution, which has been defined as evolution on the "double quick," 
began about 1880 in South Carolina, because of the general recognition that it was 
best "to carry the mills to the fields," because South Carolina was beginning to 
see daylight and accumulate some money after the trials of the war and recon- 
struction; because there was a better feeling on the part of the machinery and 
commission people of the North and East towards the South; and, finally, because 
some few Southern men, and particularly those in this State, had the "nerve" to 
invest largely in cotton mills. 



ARTICLE IV.— Where the Help Comes From. 

South Carolina with its millions of spindles now requires thousands of opera- 
tives to man the machines. 

The question of labor is obviously always foremost in any industrial enter- 
prise, and it is well to look closely into this question in connection with the cotton 
mills. If more attention were paid to the status, physical, social and economic, of 
the people before they move to the mill towns there would be a great deal better 
understanding of the conditions as they exist to-day. Very many people make 
the mistake of starting at the wrong end in considering the South Carolina cotton 
mills. Investigators have come to South Carolina and have not been altogether 
satisfied with the conditions of the laboring classes, and have gone off, writing 
all sorts of misleading statements. What they should have done in justice to the 
mills, as well as to the operatives themselves, would have been to go to the 
fountain head of labor for these same mills. Since the mythical "Golden Age" it 
has been one of the unfortunate conditions of life that many are poor, many are 
poorer than others. "Ye have the poor always with you" is Biblical. Those who 
go to the cotton mills to earn an honest living have not accumulated fortunes, 
nor have they met with marked success in their previous callings. In t*he 
economy of the world it is necessary that some people should be operatives in 
cotton mills, as well as it is necessary that some people should run banks and do 
other things that are supposed to be more pleasant than physical toil for a living.. 
Those who are to-day in the cotton mills of South Carolina are as good and as 
honest people as can be found in this country. A great deal has been said about 
their being Revolutionary- stock and such things— all of which is true. But the 
essential point at this time is to remember that the people who went into the 
cotton mills in South Carolina at the beginning of the industry were native born. 
Mr Gregg, in his fifth report, (1855,) has this to say about the operatives who 
were contributing to the success of the Graniteville Mills: "We may really re- 
gard ourselves as the pioneer in developing the real character of the poor people 
of South Carolina. Graniteville is truly the home of the poor widow and help- 
less children, or for a family brought to ruin by a drunken, worthless father. 
Here they meet with protection, are educated free of charge, and brought up to 
habits of industry under the care of intelligent men. The population of Granite- 
ville is made up mainly from the poor of Edgefield, Barnwell and Lexington dis- 
tricts. From extreme poverty and want, they have become thrifty, happy and 
contented people. When they were first brought together, the SEVENTY-NINE 
out of a hundred grown girls who could neither read nor write were a by-word 
around the country; that reproach has long since been removed." 

These people and their descendants are to-day found in the cotton mills at 
Graniteville and in that vicinity. After Graniteville came the development in Spar- 
tanburg and Greenville; and of these people I might quote from a recent article 
by Principal Baldwin, of the Piedmont Industrial School, Charlotte, N. C, in 
which he writes of the help as follows: 

"I am satisfied that they are the finest body of people on earth doing similar 
work. Descended from the early English, Scotch and Germans, they have been 
sleeping, as it were, while the procession of progress has been passing by. Seri- 



22 

ous, independent, as all hill and mountain people are; sensitive, because of that 
independent spirit; for the most part sober, they are a people of untold possibili- 
ties, now that they are beginning to arouse themselves from the drowsiness of 
g-ene^ations and to grapple earnestly with the duties of this active, work-a-day 
world. 

"If we have been looking overmuch on the dark side, let us glance at some 
of the actual achievements during the last twenty or thirty-five years. 

"First of all, I would say that they have learned how to work. On the farm 
they worked pretty hard for six months in the year; the other six months doing 
practically nothing. Now the vast majority are regular workers. A* good -many 
shirk more or less, and there is much more moving than ought to be, but, notwith- 
standing these things, the fact remains that the great majority are regular and 
faithful workers. The significance of this is very far reaching. 

"They are now for the first time an economic force. From fifteen to twenty-five 
years ago there was in the South a great industrial stagnation. There was no 
need to talk about making bigger crops. They already made too much cotton— the 
money crop— and the result was a price that did not give them even a meagre liv- 
ing; many having had to mortgage land or stock to live at all. Their crop was 
spent before they had made it. There was never any money for any purpose. This 
whole element of people might at that time have been wiped off the face of the 
earth without any considerable shock to the industrial interests of the country. 
# "How different to-day! Their labor Is the source of a large part of the na- 
tional wealth, and if the cotton mills of the South and their operatives were to 
be blotted out the shock of it would reach unto the uttermost parts of the 
world." 

This is the view of the situation by one who has lived among these people for 
years. 

After the development in the Piedmont sections there came the building of cot- 
ton mills in the Lancaster and Chester territory, and these, too, were oper- 
ated by native help; and over in the Pee-Dee sections, in Marion and Marlboro, 
where the major portion of the industry is located in that section of Carolina, 
the help has from the outset been native. These people went to the cotton mills 
because they could not in justice to themselves and their families continue on the 
farms, and did not feel justified in continuing to neglect their children. It was 
all that they could do at that time to eke out an existence for themselves and 
their loved ones, and they went to the cotton mills, where they received their pay 
with clock-like regularity every fortnight. Mill work was not to their liking; it 
was constant, it was unenjoyable and persistent work. They had not been accus- 
tomed to continuous work, and that is to-day the one bugbear in the way of the 
cotton mills in South Carolina. They all have plenty of help, but they cannot 
by any persuasion, pay or premiums, induce their operatives to appreciate the old- 
time maxim that "keeping everlastingly at it brings success." 

Until within the last few years there were practically no other than South 
Carolinians or their descendants in the cotton mills, and practically all of these 
came from the farms, where they had been small landholders, who had failed at 
farming, or tenants who had not been able to make enough money out of their 
share cropping to continue, or laborers who had not enough to keep them on the 
farms. 

"When the spindles in South Carolina went over the two million mark the 
manufacturers had to go outside of the State for help. They first went to 
North Carolina, and there are to-day thousands of North Carolinians in our cot- 



23 

ton mills. These people are very much like our own. They are of the same stock, 
their ideas, their habits, their previous conditions and their religion are very much 
the same. South Carolina was not alone, however, in calling upon North Caro- 
lina for help with which to operate its new tens of thousands of spindles, but 
contemporaneously there sprung up a demand for these same people from the 
cotton mills of North Carolina. The greater portion of this help came from the 
mountainous sections around Asheville, Hendersonville, Waynesville and even fur- 
ther west toward the Tennessee line. The cotton mills employed their own 
agents, sending them out to bring in this new labor. They often carried with 
them an operative who was at work in the mill and who was satisfied, and then 
they spread broadcast hand-bills in the vicinity outlining the advantage and at- 
tractiveness of working for cotton mills. Here is a sample of one of the "dodgers" 
that was generally distributed several months ago: 

WANTED 

500 Operatives to Work in a Cotton Mill. 

The Pacolet Manufacturing Company, of Pacolet, S. O, can furnish steady em- 
ployment for over 300 days in the year for boys and girls over 12 years old, men 
and women at average wages, as follows: 

Experienced 12 to 16-year-old-boys and girls from 50c to $1 25. 

Experienced boys and girls over 16, and men and women, 75c to $1 50. 

Old men, 60 to 70 years old, 75c to $1. 

Beginners make enough for a good living, and, as they become experienced, will 
increase their wages. In a short time they become experienced enough to draw 
regular wages. Some beginners have come here and, after three days, were 
making $1 a day. 

We furnish you good, comfortable houses at 50c a room per month. We furnish 
you wood, coal and provisions laid at your door at market prices. Pacolet Mills 
houses are located on a hill and place is noted for its health and free from all 
malarial diseases. Only a short distance from North Carolina mountains. We 
have good water, a splendid system of fiee schools, churches of different denomi- 
nations; in fact everything that appeals to one who wishes to improve the con- 
dition of his family. Our mill is heated with steam and is warm and comfort- 
able in the winter. We make coarse cloth, and can have our windows open during 
the summer to give nice cool air through the mill. If you are a poor man there 
is no better location for you to select than Pacolet. It behooves every man to 
either educate his children or place them in position to learn good trades. If 
you are only able to give your son or daughter a common school education, and 
they then teach school, they can make thirty-five dollars per month of four 
months in the year. If he or she should learn to be a good weaver, $40 per month 
for the year round would be their wages, and have a good, comfortable room, 
and no exposure in the rain, snow or cold. We will advance you your transporta- 
tion and if you remain with us six months the same will be given you. 

We want families with at least three workers for the mill in each family. 

If you are interested write us and tell us how many you have in family; how 
many whole tickets and how many half tickets you want, where you will take 
the train and name of the depot agent and on what date you will start, giving 
us plenty of time to send your depot agent transportation for you. 

PACOLET MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 



24 

After awhile the "pockets" of laborers around Clyde and Waynesville became 
exhausted, and the mills had to go farther west in their hunt for labor, and that 
accounts for the many Tennesseeans who are now at work in our cotton mills. 

Last year the condition grew so acute in the demand for labor— the spindles 
were being increased so rapidly— that it was thought advisable to undertake the 
introduction of foreign labor; and as a result Commissioner E. J. Watson, co- 
operating with the South Carolina Cotton Manufacturers' Association, the 
"Wittekind" brought into this State several hundred foreign cotton mill opera- 
tives, who were installed in the cotton mills as an experiment. It is my purpose 
to devote a separate chapter to the subject of immigration as applied to the 
cotton mills, because the necessity for more help is the one real problem that 
confronts the cotton mills of South Carolina to-day. 

t ' The labor conditions vary in the different parts of the State. In some the 
need is more acute than in others; in some the labor is almost entirely of home 
origin, while in others it is very largely from North Carolina and Tennessee. 

The Anderson Cotton Mills, which costitute a very considerable portion of the 
industry, are largely supplied by former farms from the Elberton and Hartwell 
sections of Georgia; and the Georgians there outnumber those from other 
States, although native help predominates. There are practically no New England 
operatives in any of the cotton mills in this State. Every now and then a "tramp" 
weaver from the New England section will wander into a Southern cotton mill, 
and, after a few days' work, will "move on" to another mill. 

There are here and there foreign laborers in the mills, and those who apply 
themselves are doing well. At the time of my visit to Monaghan Cotton Mills, 
in Greenville, there were fifty Belgians; at the Pelzer Cotton Mills there was a 
remnant of about, twenty-eight Germans, who came over on the "Wittekind;" at 
Union there were several foreigners who had been working in the mill prior to 
the advent of the "Wittekind." In Charleston there are a number of families of 
foreigners, whp came to this State thirty years ago. 

It is, of course, the desire of the cotton mills to hold their original help, and 
at Piedmont, Pelzer and Graniteville, and most of the older mills it was found 
'that the proportion of new help was exceedingly small. Of course some of the 
old help had gone as a leaven to the newer mills, but this is discouraged as much 
as possible. 

The history of the early efforts of the industry in this State indicate that slave 
labor was very largely used. Experiment has since been made on several occa- 
sions, notably in Charleston and in Columbia, with colored help, but it has proven 
a failure, largely because of the lack of ambition on the part of the colored 
people as a race to accumulate money, and because of the disposition of the people 
to work two or three days in the week and rest for the remainder of that period. 
There are, however, a considerable number of colored people employed very satis- 
factorily in the cotton mills as openers of cotton, as scrub men, in the machine 
shops and boiler rooms, in the picker rooms at some of the mills, and almost 
entirely in what is known as the outside force that attends to the cleaning of the 
grounds and the sanitary arrangements For instance, by way of illustration 
of the use of colored help, I find that there are between thirty and forty colored 
men employed at Newberry. Of this number eight or ten were on the "yard;" 
the average pay per day was from 75c to $1 each. At Piedmont there were forty- 
three colored men on the "yard," one gathered waste, one worked in the ware 



25 

house, one did manual labor in the cloth room, and there were only two in the 
mill proper. At Union-Buffalo there were about forty altogether. Some few of 
them were employed in the picker room under white men. At Lancaster there 
were from forty to fifty colored men. At Graniteville, which includes the two 
mills at Graniteville proper and the Vaucluse property, there were eighty-five, of 
which number thirty-three were on the "yard gang." At Pacolet there were 
fifteen to twenty employed as outside help, the number in the mills being twenty- 
five to thirty; at Chiquola there were five negroes employed. At Orangeburg 
there were a few colored men employed. 

These are simply given as types of what is regarded now as the possibilities 
of colored help in connection with mill work. All the colored help is used for 
manual labor, and not in conjunction with white help; only colored men are em- 
ployed. 

The mills in the Pee-Dee section, which are comparatively small, use consider- 
able local help, but draw largely on North Carolina, which is quite near. The 
McColl Mills have a large proportion of North Carolina help as the mills are 
only about three or four miles from the North Carolina line. 

While I was at Orangeburg the president of that mill received a letter from 
Hampton County, asking for employment for a family of eleven. Quite a number 
of people from Hampton County are now working to advantage in these mills. 
Colleton County has also supplied a considerable portion of the help in the mills 
of the lower part of the State. 

One of the giants of the cotton mill industry was Col Jas L. Orr, president of 
the Piedmont Cotton Mills for a number of years. In an article that he pre- 
pared he had this to say about those who labored with him to make a success 
at Piedmont: 

"It will be observed that every one, from superintendent down, were born in 
this Piedmont section, and learned his business in this mill— demonstrating, as well 
as anything else could, that Southern men can learn the mill business and com- 
pete successfully with those who have had generations of training. The employees 
of Piedmont to-day occupy a very different position in society from that held by 
mill hands formerly. They are more intelligent and, therefore, command the re-, 
spect of others. Many advantages are enjoyed by them which cannot be had in 
sparsely settled localities." 

In subsequent articles it is my purpose to show why and how the conditions 
of those who went to the cotton mills have been so materially improved, and what 
advantages they enjoy in the mill communities that they cannot hope to gain in 
their isolated mountain homes. 



ARTICLE V.— Why They Go to the Mills. 

The people who work in the cotton mills are very much like the rest of man- 
kind. There are more than 54,000 actual operatives on the pay rolls, and the rule 
seems to be to count at least two and a half times as many as being depend- 
ent upon the efforts of those who are actually in the mills — the mill population 
easily running to 125,000. As has been stated in my previous letter, practically all 
of the help now in the cotton mills has come from the farms, .and mainly from 
those in South Carolina. It has not been very many years since farm labor was 
but poorly paid for. About 1897 and 1898, when the raw cotton was selling at less 
than the cost of production, there was a general influx to the cotton mills; and 
most of those who went there then still remain with the mills. The gen- 
eral impression among competent mill men is that not more than 10 per cent of 
those who go to the cotton mills return to the farms. It appears that the first 
year in the mills is generally the hardest. The help goes into the factory abso- 
lutely without experience, and it is particularly difficult for them to withstand 
the confinement of the building, and to be able to stand on their feet on the 
wooden floor. A great many of those who for the first time go into the cotton 
mills have difficulty with their feet. The mill help is shortest in the summer 
time, and this is because of the desire of a great many operatives, particularly 
those living in the mountainous sections, to spend the heated months in their 
former mountain homes. 

It appears to be an accepted fact that if the operatives remain for two years 
in the mills they very seldom, if ever, leave the mills for the farm. The attraction 
of the cotton mill, to those who are in them, in a word, is the cash money. 

They do not go to the mills because they are partial to day labor, but they go 
there simply because they know that at the end of every two weeks, whether the 
crops are good or bad, whether cotton is bringing five or fifteen cents, whether the 
cotton mill is making money or losing money, whether the corporation is in the 
hands of a receiver or not, that their pay envelope is going to be handed out to 
them by the paymaster. 

There have been frequent occasions in this State where mills have actually 
been running for a time at a loss to their stockholders, and the mills have con- 
tinued operations in justice to the operatives and to hold the help together, be- 
cause when labor is once disorganized it is difficult to reassemble. 

It is not my purpose to argue whether or not it is more profitable to work on 
the farms or to labor in the cotton mills, but I am simply going to look into it 
from the standpoint of the operatives themselves. It was my purpose, wherever 
I went among the operatives, to inquire why they left the farms and preferred 
the cotton mills. I talked with men and women along these lines, and only in 
two or three instances did I find a marked preference for the farm, and a sincere 
desire, such as was expressed. by Mr Jenkins, of the Chiquola Mills, to return to 
the fields of Greenville. Such a desire was also expressed by an old man— Mr 
Coleman Allen— who wanted to go back to the mountains of North Carolina, al- 
though he seemed very well satisfied at Pacolet. 

As a general thing among those whom I interviewed, and at every place that 
I visited I talked along this line, there was a general disposition to remain at the 



27 

cotton mills, and, as I have previously stated, the chief and convincing reason 
that they have for remaining is the cash consideration. In quite a number of 
instances the people would go over their experiences on the farms as compared 
with their pay in the mills, and showed me why it was preferable for them to 
remain at their present work. For instance, at Piedmont, I met Mr Joe Parker, 
who was working in the mill at the time. He inherited a farm, about seven miles 
from Piedmont. He has been working in the cotton mills for about nine 
years and seems to be a sturdy, wide-awake young man. He is married and has 
one child; neither the wife nor child work in the mill. He was 27 years of 
age in August, and his experience is given in detail, because it may be regarded 
as typical of those who have gone from the farms to the mills— except that Mr 
Parker owned his own place. Mr Parker told me thq.t he made three light bales 
of cotton on his place; the first of which he sold at ten cents, the second at 
uarters cents per pound. He made from eleven cents, the third at ten and three-q 
thirty-five to fifty bushels of corn per acre, but this -was not enough for his needs. 
He borrowed the money with which to buy a horse for his farm operations. 

At the close of the farm year he found that he was $150 behind, and he there- 
upon concluded to sell his little farm, consisting of twenty-two acres, to Mr Jas 
C. Sittin for $600, accepting part cash payment and part deferred payment there- 
for. 

Mr Parker said that on the farm he came out behind, while in the mill he 
made enough to live on at the rate of $1 25 per day, which was his compensation. 
He did not particularly fancy mill work, but he thought that it was best for him- 
self and his family that he sell his farm and accept the certainty that he was re- 
ceiving at the Piedmont Cotton Mills. 

It is not at all an uncommon thing to find among the operatives' families that 
have left the mills, after having accumulated enough money to venture into 
farming operations, return and resume their work in the mills. There are some 
people who cannot succeed at farming as well as some people who cannot succeed 
in any other line of work, while a great many others fail, and this may account 
for the fact that so many who go from the mills to the farms fail on the farms, 
because mill work is very largely mechanical, and what little head work is neces- 
sary comes from others than those who have been experimenting on the farms and 
there failed. 

There are to-day a number of owners of small farms working in the cotton 
mills. I should say that it would be coservative to figure that fifteen hundred 
farms in this State are owned by cotton mill operatives. In a great many mills 
there are as many as a dozen operatives who own farms, and they prefer very of- 
ten to rent these farms rather than hazard the experiment of making money on 
them. 

The great majority of those who have gone to the cotton mills from farms 
belong to what is known as the tenant class; that is, they were renters upon 
some of the various plans of conducting small farms in vogue in this State. The 
systems of tenancy are not altogether the same throughout the State, but are gen- 
erally on the same lines. Under the State law the landlord has the first claim 
upon the crop. This is. of course, altogether right, despite the arguments of the 
Socialises, and whether the crop is good or bad, the first claim is that of the 
landlord. In the Pee-Dee section, for instance, the landlord furnishes the land, 
pays for the fertilizers, supplies the house, wood and water, paj r s for the ginning 
and bagging and ties, and in return for this the tenant gets half of the crop. It 



28 

is considered very good for a tenant to make fifteen bales of cotton. Of this amount 
he is entitled to seven and a half bales, which, at the rate of $50 per bale, would 
bring $375. If he plants eight acres of corn and makes twenty bushels to the acre, 
his share would be eighty bushels. Some of this corn would, of course, have to 
be used for his stock. Then the head of the family could hire himself out for a 
part of the year, if he were so inclined, to do hauling or other manual labor, and, 
to give him the full credit, he ought to make $150 in addition to his cotton. This 
would net him $525. If his family were made up of three hands; that is one plough 
and two hoe hands, and they went to the cotton mill, they would make on the 
very lowest basis $900 a year. From the figures that I expect to give later I will 
show exactly what such a family ought to make. Now the question is whether 
or not such a family woujd rather live on the farm, and get less cash money, 
or whether they would rather go to the cotton mill and "handle the 
coin." 

In Newberry i interviewed several families— the Bouknights, Cromers, the 
Leopards and others— who had gone from the mills to the farms, and who were 
returning to the cotton mills. Mr Cromer's case was very interesting, because 
of the position that his daughters took in that they did not care to "bury them- 
selves" on the farm, but preferred the community at the cotton mills. Mr Bouk- 
night had undertaken a farm, and, after losing considerable money, had decided 
that the'mill was better than the farm. 

In Spartanburg the system is very much the same as it is elsewhere— the land- 
lord furnishes the land and stock, and gets one-half of the crop, and the tenant 
receives the other half; the expenses of fertilizing being shared. Various esti- 
mates have been made as to what ought to be made by a tenant farmer in the 
Piedmont section, but, owing to the undulating character of the farms, the 
average farmer does not make as much per acre as is made in the Pee-Dee 
section. And just here it may be very very well to note that Mr D. A. Tompkins, 
of Charlotte, N. C, takes the position that cotton mill help cannot be gotten from 
the farms where it is more profitable to work on the farm, and that on that 
account cotton mills will not nourish in Texas and in other sections, where the 
farms are exceedingly fertile and the results of farm labor are especially remu- 
nerative. 

To go back to the Piedmont territory. If a farmer will raise, say, eight bales 
of cotton and sell this cotton at $55, his gross proceeds will be $440. The cotton 
seed will about pay for the fertilizers. Such a farmer would plant from twenty 
to twenty-five acres, fifteen to eighteen of which would be in cotton and about six 
acres in corn, and the experience seems to be that at the end of the year, after 
he has paid the merchant for the advances that he might have gotten during the 
year, say, about $75, that he will not have enough money to buy an outfit of new 
clothes for himself and family. Of course there are some exceptions, where the 
family is industrious, and by special exertions, manages to save some money 
out of the farmer's extra labor, but unfortunately such is not the general rule 
among the people of our State. 

"When I was over in McColl, which is a distinctly rich agricultural section of 
South Carolina, I had a long talk with a young man, named Smith, in the drug 
store of Dr J. C. Moore. He told me that he had worked for a number of years 
on the farm of Mr Gilbert McCahan, and that he was decidedly of the opinion 
that it was better to work in the cotton mill, because of the certainty of the 
wages. He received $1 per day and his wife was earning $1 10 per day at the 



29 

Marie Mills. The work in the mills, in his opinion, was more pleasant and free 
from exposure in the summer sun. In that section the system seems to be for the 
landlord to furnish the land and fertilizer, and for the tenant to supply the labor, 
stock and feed it, and for each to get half. Twenty-five acres was regarded as a 
very good average to the tenant. 

Just a moment after my conversation with Mr Smith I met Mr J. J. Lane, a 
prominent and influential member of theGeneral Assembly, who lives near Mc- 
Coll. Mr Lane was good enough to go over the situation with me and outlined 
various systems of tenancy. He said that one of the systems in vogue in his 
county was for the land-owner to bear all the expenses, such as those in connec- 
tion with the land, fertilizers, tools, stock, etc, and for the "cropper" simply to 
give the labor, and under that division the tenant received one-third of the crop 
and the landlord two-thirds. Under this system, if the tenant raised thirty bales 
of cotton the landlord received twenty bales and the tenant ten bales. Mr Lane 
stated that it was now very seldom that a desirable white tenant could be se- 
cured, that the large majority of tenants were colored people, and that altogether 
the farm conditions and the securing of desirable tenants were very unsatisfac- 
tory, and that the labor conditions were not what they should be either with 
colored men or women, and that white labor was unfortunately getting to be very 
scarce on the farms. Mr Lane did not think that those who had gone into the 
cotton mills would ever be suited for farm laborers again. In this connection, 
away off in Anderson County, I had a talk with Mr Vernon Kay. He is employed 
at the Chiquola Cotton Mill, and owns a farm in Anderson County. He has written 
down as one of his maxims that he will not rent to any one who has ever 
worked in a cotton mill. I asked him why he had taken this position, and he said 
that last year he had lost $200 on a two- horse farm, and that he would rather let 
his land lie idle than rent to any one who had been in a mill. His reason for this 
is that the cotton mill operatives have been spoiled and do not appreciate the ne- 
cessity for constant work, and that when a farm is "in grass" it needs work, 
and that just about that time the mill-farmer will have the notion that he can 
rest, as he does in the cotton mills; that the farm labor is so different form the 
mill labor that he thinks it unwise to rent his farm to those who have lived in 
mill communities. In other words, the mills, on account of the scarcity of labor,' 
have been unable to teach the help that to "keep everlastingly at it" is the basis 
of success in farming as in other walks of life. 

In Orangeburg I had an operator-farmer figure on the comparative income, 
and he told me that it was considered mighty good to make as many as twenty 
bales of cotton on a one-horse farm, and that out of this the tenant would get 
ten bales, which, if sold at $50 per bale, would net $500. He figured the corn as 
bringing $32 50 and his share of the fodder $12 50 and the cotton seed $80— this 
would be about $600 altogether. He estimated that he and three others in family 
would make twice as much cash money in the mills, and that was why he pre- 
ferred working in the mill. 

In Anderson I met a Mr Perrin on the street car. He had come from Georgia 
to the Orr Mills, and he had four boys and eight girls. With a force of eight out 
of his family working in the mill they easily earned $10 a day; some of them mak- 
ing $1 50 apiece. Mr Perrin stated that they could not make anything like this 
money on the farm, near Elberton. 

As I have previously stated, a great many of the present-day operatives are 
coming from the mountainous section of North Carolina. One of the mills in the 



30 

Piedmont section has distributed very freely all around Clyde, North Carolina, a 
hand-bill, which reads as follows: 

"Three years ago I owned a little mountain farm of two hundred acres. I 
had two good horses, two good cows, plenty of hogs, sheep and several calves. I 
had three girls and two boys; ages run from 11 to 21. On my little farm I raised 
about four hundred bushels of corn, thirty to forty bushels of wheat, two hundred 
to three hundred dozen oats, and cut from four to eight stacks of hay during the 
summer. After I clothed my family, fed all my stock during the winter, I had 
only enough provisions and feed to carry me through making another crop, and 
no profit left. I sold my farm and stock, paid up all my debts and moved my 
family to a cotton mill. At that time green hands had to work for nothing till 
they learned their jobs, about one month, but now my youngest daughter, only 14 
years old, is making $6 per week, my other two are making $7 50 each per week, 
and my two boys are making $8 each per week and I am making $4 50 per week; 
a total of $166 per month. My provisions average $30, house rent $2, coal and 
wood $4, total $36; leaving a balance of $130, to buy clothes and deposit in the 
bank. 

"My experience is that, while you are on the farm toiling in rain and snow, 
feeding away what you have made during the summer and making wood to keep 
fires to keep your family from feezing, you could at the same time be in a cot- 
ton mill and in a good, comfortable room, making more than you can make in 
the summer time on the farm, and there is no stock to eat up what you make. 
At the mills, children over 12 years old, after they learn their job, can make more 
than men can make on farms. It is not every family that can do as well as the 
above family, but it only shows what a family can do that will try and work. 
Most any family can do half as well— so divide the above number of workers' 
wages by two and see if you would not still be doing well. 

"Give this matter your careful thought." 

I had a talk with Mr Morgan, who is now at Piedmont, and what he had to 
say is typical of hundreds of others. Mr Morgan was born and raised at Ross 
man, in Transylvania County, North Carolina. He owns a farm of 100 acres, for 
which he paid $125, and on this he raised, until he went to the Piedmont Mills, 
corn, beans, potatoes and cabbages, and with his boys skinned tan bark and 
sold it at the railroad station. Mr Morgan has four girls, two of whom work in 
the mills. His conclusion is that it is much more profitable to work in the mill, 
and that the work "ain't so laborious" and "ain't so tough." A great many of 
these North Carolinians, as well as those from this State, are accumulating money 
and buying small farms not only in this State, but are considerable investors in 
real estate in North Carolina. 

In a subsequent article it is my purpose to write of these investors to some 
extent. 

In Rock Hill I met another North Carolinian, who came to the mill with his 
family and all of their earlier possessions in a one-horse wogan. "When they 
arrived at Rock Hill Mr Fewell very generously provided food, on which the fam- 
ily lived until they could work. This family now has five operatives in the mill. 
They have $1,000 in bank. When they went to the mill there was not one member 
of the family who could either read or write. Now they can all read and write. 
When they went to the mill they had not more than a "shift" of clothing; now 
they are all well dressed. The head of the family, after he had been at the mill, 
thought that he could farm, and invested $300 in the experiment. He failed. A 



31 

curious thing about this man is that every pay day he insists on having all of his 
money in silver. 

I wish very much that some of these agitators, and particularly those who are 
really hunting for the facts in connection with the cotton mills, and who are will- 
ing to "dig," to learn the truth about the mill operatives as compared with their 
previous condition, would go to the mill villages and talk to some of the older 
people, and not to those who think those who go to make inquiry are hunt- 
ing "sore spots." They ought to talk to an old man. like Richard Vincent, 
who has been connected with the Pacolet Cotton Mill for twenty-three years, to 
get at the real comparative conditions; and I want to emphasize the word COM- 
PARATIVE. They can find men like Richard Vincent at almost any of the old 
mill communities; certainly at Pelzer, Graniteville, Piedmont and the older of the 
large factories. Mr Vincent is now 73 years of age, and he has gone through 
all of the "gaits." He has been a grits miller, a farmer and a mill operative. 
His children have been on the farms and have worked in the cotton mills, and 
he is decidedly of the opinion that the best place for himself and his companions 
is in the cotton mills. He says that he has reached this conclusion not only on 
account of the money consideration, but on account of the school and church ad- 
vantages, as well as because of the community of interests. Mr Vincent has 
enjoyed excellent health, and is at work to-day at the age of 73. He does not 
believe that girls ought to work on the farms. He has money in the savings 
bank, was a good Confederate soldier; does not owe any one a cent, has a willing 
help-mate, owns a good cow, and is altogether a good citizen. Mr Vincent is em- 
ployed in the cloth room at the Pacolet Mills, where he receives $1 per day. 

People can succeed at whatever they undertake, provided they stick at it and 
show a reasonable amount of judgment. It is the same on the farm as it is in 
the cotton mill, but more judgment is necessary on the farm than it is in the run- 
ning of a machine that is intended to need as little executive capacity as possible. 



/ 



ARTICLE VI.— Average Fay of the Operatives. 



In this article I wish to take up the average pay to the operatives in the cot- 
ton mill and show how this has increased from year to year. It makes one of 
the most interesting 1 studies in connection with the entire subject. Of course the 
demand for labor and the prosperity of the mills have been responsible for this 
Increase. In a series of articles written five years ago I showed that the aver- 
age pay per operative at that time was about 75 cents. It is now over $1 10. 
There is really very little difference in the wage scale in the various parts of the 
State, some sections offering slight inducements by concessions in the matter of 
room rent or something of the kind by which they hold their labor. 

As a rule the schedule of wages is influenced by the groupings of the mills; 
that is, the mills in and around Spartanburg pay practically the same, charge the 
same scale for room rent, and offer the same inducements. Those in and around 
Greenville try to come as near the same scale as possible. Those in and around 
Lancaster and Chester do the same. Those in Columbia approximate the same 
scale. Theie is no concert of action on the part of the cotton mills in South 
Carolina to pay the same wages. If there were there would not be the steady 
increase that has been experienced within the last few years. The suggestion 
has been made that it would be best for the manufacturers in this State to agree 
upon a schedule of wages, but nothing has been done along this line, however the 
necessity for it may appear to exist. It was my purpose to make diligent inquiry 
as to the wage scale from the "offices as well as from the operatives themselves. 
As far as I have been able to find, there is no dissatisfaction whatever as to the 
wage scale, the operatives being satisfied with the amount of pay they are receiv- 
ing, and the owners of the mills being content to share the present day prosperity 
with their help. 

As previously stated, it was practically impossible to visit all of the cotton 
mills in South Carolina, and, even if I had visited them all, it would be imprac- 
ticable to go into details as to each one of these mills, and my fear now is that 
this series of articles is going to be too extended owing to the quantity of data. 
My purpose has been to get typical illustrations, and the figures that I here 
present are not gotten from what are known as "parade" mills, but have been 
gathered from various types of mills, and in the different sections of the State. 
Some of the data are from mills . that are regarded as conservative, others are 
looked upon as "cheap" and some of them high-priced. The aim has been to get 
illustrations that really mean something, and in all instances the data have been 
gotten directly from the pay rolls, and is to be regarded as absolutely reliable and 
accurate. 

In my series of articles five years ago I published the following interesting 
summary from the pay roll of a large and successful Piedmont section cotton 
mill, and I am presenting in connection with this statement a pay roll of five years 
subsequent, showing the comparative wages in the various departments in 1902 and 
1907. The increase, as will be noted, is over 43 per cent in the actual average pay 
per day for the operatives in the same mills: 



33 

TYPICAL MILL, 1902. 

Pay Roll, Chil- Total em- Aver- 

, two weeks. Men. Women, dren. ployed. age, 

Carding $ 572 09 46 13 7 66 72c 

Spinning 705 35 30 21 46 97 60 7-12c 

Spooling and warping 204 68 3 4 27 34 50c 

Weaving 1,800 93 84 78 .. 162 92 2-3c 

Drawing 1,190 06 1 11 1 13 76 l-3c 

Slasher 50 40 4 .. .. 4 $105 

Cloth room 158 81 15 .. 5 20 66 l-3c 

Machine shops 323 97 25 .. .. 25 108 

Outdoor labor 213 59 23 . . . . 23 77c 

Totals $4,148 68 231 127 86 444 78 5-9c 

THE SAME MILL IN 1907. 



Amount. 

Picking and carding $1,269 45 

Spinning 1,442 80 

Dressing, spooling 533 25 

Weaving.... 2,118 55 

Cloth room 342 55 

Machine shop 32170 

Other labor 326 25 



$6,354 55 



Men. 


Women. 


Children. 


To- 
tal. 


Average 
pay per day 


100 


11 


14 


125 




$1 15 


45 


35 


77 


157 




1 06 


22 


40 




62 




1 02 


144 


42 




186 




1 30 


21 


15 


10 


46 




83 


21 






21 




1 39 


36 






36 




91 



633 



$1 13 



Another actual comparison that shows conditions better than columns of read- 
ing matter is the following taken from one of the largest mills in an entirely 
different section of the State, and where it is said the highest wage scale exists: 

ANOTHER MILL IN 1902. 



"We have in spinning room, on last pay roll, 190 names, making 2,089 days. 
Pay roll for spinning room, $1,001 60, making an average of 47 9-10 cents per day. 

"On card room pay roll there appears 80 names, making 755 1-2 days. Card 
room pay roll was $599 90, being an average of 79 4-10 cents per day. 

"On the weave room pay roll there appear 301 names, making 3,057 days. Pay 
roll amounts to $3,002 50, being an average of 98 1-5 cents per day. 

"Cloth room, 16 names, 147 days. Pay roll $118 10, an average of 73 1-2 cents 
per day. 

"Shop, 16 names, 176 days. Pay roll, $213 85; average, $1 21 4-10 cents per day. 

"Total number of operatives, 604. Total number of days, 6,224. Total pay roll, 
$4,935 95. General average, 79 cents per capita. 

"Full time would have been 7,248 days; so, you see, we have averaged about 84 
per cent of full time throughout the mill." 



34 

THE SAME MILL IN 1907. 

Pay Roll Aver- Average 

Department. two weeks. Men. Wo- Chil- age pay hours actu- 

men. dren. Total, per day, ally made 

Picking and carding $634 80 52 10 .. 62 $116 91.61 

Spinning 805 66 28 11 47 86 93 105 

Spool-warp 247 73 4 5 23 32 76 105 

Weaving 1,842 97 78 64 

Drawing 80 06 4 2 

Slasher room... 66 00 5. 

Cloth room 182 12 12 2 

Machine 350 88 21 



Outdoor labor 346 91 



142 1 24 108 

6 1 26 109 

5 1 10 124 

14 1 08 110 

21 1 34 129 

30 1 03 117 



$4,557 13 234 94 70 398 $1 10 111 

The maximum hours for the two weeks' period would be 124 hours, or 62 hours 
per week. 

So much for comparisons of the same mills. 

One of the large properties that is regarded as successful and is not generally 
looked upon as one of the highest priced mills in the State is paying an average of 
$1 10 per day, and those who are interested in this matter, as well as in the pro- 
portion of men, women and children employed in the various departments, will 
be intensely interested in this statement, which is an accurate copy of the pay 
roll of that particular mill for the two weeks, July 1 to 25: 

July 1-15, 1907— Two weeks' pay roll: 

Wo- Chil- To- Average 

Amount. Men. men. dren. tal, pay per day. 

Picking and carding $1,630 76 128 15 24 167 $104 

Spinning and doffing 1,758 36 81 60 63 204 94 

Spool, warp, slash, etc 882 48 30 71 .. 101 100 

Weaving 2,848 06 232 57 ..289 122 

Repair shop 552 48 38 .. .. 38 138 

Cloth room 258 60 14 8 9 31 88 

Other labor 52156 81 .. .. 81 123 

Grand total $8,452 30 604 211 96 911 $110 

One of the older of the successful cotton mills in the Piedmont section has a 
slightly lower average than has heretofore been given— the summary of the pay 
roll being as follows: 

Carding $100 

Spinning 81 

Weaving 1 11 

Repair shop 135 

Cloth room 77 

Outside (white) 121 

Total average 102 



35 

It is somewhat curious that mills in the lower part of the State are paying 
more for their help than are those in the Piedmont section. They are no doubt 
paying this to hold their help, as there are more or less attractions for opera- 
tives in communities where there are a great many mill people. The following 
is a statement of a two weeks' pay roll of one of the typical small cotton mills 
below the Piedmont belt: 
Two weeks' pay roll: 

Men. Wo- Chil- To- Average 

men. dren. tal. wages. 

Carding $278 26 20 3 .. 23 $120 

Spinning, spooling and warping. 438 16 8 6 27 41 1 06 

Weaving, slashing and drawing- 

in 578 74 18 20 2 41 1 41 

Cloth room 5100 4 .. .. 4 106 

Machine shop, engines and boil- 
ers 103 20 5 .. .. 5 172 

Outdoor labor 19 20 2 .... 2 80 

Average per hand per day $1 20 

The above statements are all based upon the average pay per operative actu- 
ally engaged in work, and do not take into consideration the time that the oper- 
atives are not at work earning wages. One of the mills, for instance, has taken 
the total wages and divided it by the total number of days' work. Another of 
the mills has taken the total of wages, or the cost of a separate room per day, 
and divided it by the number of hands working in the particular room or depart- 
ment; or where the work has been by the piece the total amount of wages earned 
in that room by a certain set of hands has been divided by. the actual number of 
working days those hands were employed in making such amounts, to arrive at 
the daily average. 

Another of the cotton mills has prepared for me an interesting statement for 
the two weeks ending July 30th, showing the average pay per day not taking into 
consideration the time that these operatives were out of the mills and not earn- 
ing wages; but this statement that I am now giving shows what the operatives 
have actually earned counting the days 'ost out of the mills as equivalent to the 
days actually at work. 

This statement ought to be compared with the previous statements to show the 
great amount of money that is lost, not only by the mills, but by the operatives 
themselves by their absenteeism from the mills. The statement of this mill, which 
does not take out the lost time, is as follows: 

TWO WEEKS' PAY ROLL,, JULY 30, 1907. 

Average 

pay per 

Men. Women. Children. Total. day. 

Picking and carding $1,006 15 77 12 10 99 84 

Spinning 992 35 20 18 93 131 63 

Spooling and warping 426 45 3 36 20 59 60 

Slashing and drawing in 267 20 8 17 25 .. 89 

Weaving 2,513 15 138 76 .. 214 97 

Cloth room 242 85 18 .. 2 20 $101 

Machine shop 273 00 13 .. .. 13 175 

Other labor 236 35 29 .... 29 68 

Boiler and engine 87 20 7 .. .. 7 $103 

$6,044 70 213 159 125 597 $ 84 

Average for same two weeks in 1902, 67c per day, 643 hands. 



Of course, all of these statements that I am giving are from independent mills 
in different parts of the State. 

Another statement which is of especial interest, and which shows how wages 
have increased in the cotton mills, is taken from the comparative cost sheet of 
another Piedmont section cotton mill, giving the actual average pay per opera- 
tive for the month of June in each of six years. It is as follows: 

AVERAGE PAY PER OPERATIVE. 

June, 1907 $1 23 

June, 1906 1 10 

June, 1905, 103 

} June, 1904 97 

June, 1903 88 

June, 1902 76 

The increase here shows from 1902 to 1907 is 61 per cent. I think it will there- 
fore be safe, with all of the lights that I have before me, and all the data that I 
have been able to collect, to say that in five years' time the wage scale in this 
State has voluntarily been increased 45 per cent. It is to be remembered that the 
Southern cotton mills are to-day paying more money for wages than are the 
mills in old England. In a recent report of the United States Government on the 
foreign markets for the sale of American products, by a commission, of which Mr 
William Whittam, Jr, was one of the members, this statement is made as to 
wages in England: "The average weekly wages per operative in 1882 was $4 08; in 
1893, $4 56, and at this writing, 1907, it is $4 68." This is for a week of 55 1-2 hours, 
and, as can be readily figured, the average pay per day is less than 70c, which 
would not begin to compare with the average pay in South Carolina even five 
years ago; and since then there has been an increase in this State of over 45 per 
cent. 

There is practically no difference in the wage scale in the South and New Eng- 
land, particularly when the manufacturer takes into consideration the differ- 
ence in the results, and when the operative figures that in the New England 
States the cost of living is very much more than it is in the South. 

The General Assembly of South Carolina at its last session reduced the num- 
ber of hours of labor per week from sixty-six to sixty-two hours, after July 1, 
1907, and by this Act on the first of January next the work-week for the cotton 
mills will constitute sixty hours. The chief loss as a result of this new law has 
been to the cotton mills by the cutting of production, and the loss on their" in- 
vestment by not being able to operate thereby to secure the maximum production. 
The chief loss to the operatives has been on those in the weave room, and where 
the pay is by the piece. 



ARTICLE VII. -The Pay of Individual Operatives. 

It may be well now to take up the pay of the individual operative and to in- 
quire into the basis of wages as the increase of pay has been marked in South 
Carolina, and with the exception of the raw material the cost of labor is the 
largest item that enters into the manufacturing process, and shows the steadiest 
increase. Then again it is the most vital to the operatives. 

In the manufacturing process the cotton mill may be divided into the following 
departments: 

Card room, which can be divided into these sub-divisions of employees: 
Picker tenders. 
Card tenders. 
Card grinders. 
Drawing frame tenders. 

Slubber tenders. i 

Intermediate tenders. 

Fly frame tenders. , 

Sweepers. 
Floor scrubbers. 
Oilers. 

Shafting cleaners. 
Second hand. 
Overseer. 

Then the spinning room, in which the employment is divided as follows: 
Spinners. 

Doff boys (bobbin boys.) 

Roving haulers. ' 

Sweepers. 

Floor scrubbers. i 

Shafting cleaners. 
Quill cleaners. 
Second hand. 
Section hands. 
Overseer. 

Then the spooling room, where the division of labor is: 

Spooler girls. 
Bobbin boys. 
Spare help. 
Second hand. 
Overseer. 

Then the warping room, where the division is: 
Warper tenders. 
Tieing-in girls. 

Spare help (for handling beams, etc.) 
Overseer (usually in charge of boss spinner.) 



38 

Then the slasher room, where the division of labor is: 

Slasher tenders. 
Slasher. 
Spare help. 

Overseer (usually in charge of boss 
weaver.) 

Then the drawing-in room, where the division is: 

Drawing-in room, (which includes tieing-in machine:) 
Drawing-in girl. 
Spare help (placing and handling 

beams.) i 

Tieing-in machine tenders. 
Tieing-in machine assistants. 
Overseer (usually in charge of boss 

weaver.) 

Finally, in the manufacturing process, the weave room, where the division 
of labor is: 

Weavers. 

Spare weavers. 

Loom fixers. 

Filling rollers. 

Floor scrubbers. 

Elevator men. 

Overseer. 

Second hand. 
After the weaving process comes the cloth room, where the division is: 

Overseer. 

Second hand. 

(traders. ' 

Inspectors. 

Press hand. 

Folder tenders. 

Stitcher boys. 

Brusher tenders. \ 

And in addition to this the machine shop and outdoor labor, which includes 
those who attend to: 

House sanitation and general health 
regulations. 
I have already shown the comparative wages of the cotton mills in the State, 
to be for the various departments about $1 10 per operative, where actually work- 
ing. It will now be interesting to see what some of the individual families are 
making— not to get ideal cases, not to speculate on imaginary illustrations. The 
following illustrations are accurate and can be verified by an inspection of the pay 
rolls. First of all, I want to call attention to this particular case: Five years ago 
I got from the pay roll of the Pelzer Manufacturing Company a number of actual 
illustrations. Several of the same families are still at that plant, but the fami- 
lies are somewhat divided. The family of T. S. F., which was given as an illus- 



tration five years ago, is still at Pelzer, an£l in the meanwhile another wage 
earner has been added to the family. Five years ago that family earned $4 10 per 
day; to-day the same family is earning $7 40 per day, with one additional member 
of the family on the pay roll, this new member earning only forty cents per day. 
The same employees of five ago showed an increase in their daily earnings of 80 
per cent. The following is the record: 

FOR THE YEAR 1902. 

Pay per 
Family. Occupation. day. 

Mr T. S. F Watchman 90 

H. B., 20 years Weaving $100 

Mack, 18 years Weaving 100 

Raman, 16 years Spinning 60 

Ernest, 14 years -. Spinning 60 

$4 10 
THE SAME FAMILY IN 1907. 

Pay per 
Family. Occupation. day. 

Mr T. S. F Outside $125 

Henry, 23 years Weaving 160 

Mack, 21 years Weaving 150 

Raman, 19 years ■ Weaving 165 

Ernest, 17 years Cloth room 100 

Mary, 13 years Cloth room 40 



$7 40 



^ FOR THE YEAR 1902. 

Pay per 
Family. Occupation. day. 

George D Outside 75 

Manning, 16 years Draw frames 45 

Fannie, 18 years Speeder 85 



$2 05 



THE SAME FAMILY IN THE YEAR 1907. 

Pay per 
Family. Occupation. day. 

George D Carding $100 

Fannie, 23 years Speeder 108 

Manning, 21 years Slubber 100 

Lloyd, 14 years Draw frames 65 



$3 73 



Pay per 
Family, 1902. Occupation. day. 

L. W Fixer card room ....$100 

Josie, wife Speeder frames 90 

$190 



40 

Pay per 
Family, 1907. Occupation. day. 

Li. W... Grinder $150 

Josie Speeder 93 

Annie, 16 years Speeder 72 

Mamie, 14 years Speeder 70 



$3 85 



Pay per 
Family, 1902. Occupation. day. 

J. V Card grinder-. $100 

Nettie, 14 years Spinner 40 

George, 11 years Draw frames 40 



$1 80 



Pay per 
Family, 1907. Occupation. day. 

J. V .Grinder $150 

George, 16 years Doffing 75 

Nettie, 19 years Spinner 96 

Tom, 14 years Doffer 50 

I $3 71 

Pay per 
G. P. W., family, 1902. Occupation. day. 

Daisy, 19 years Weaver 68 

Eunice, 19 years Weaver 73 

Ida, 14 years Spooler 50 

Eula, 12 years Spinner 30 

Lucy, 13 years Spinner 30 

Tabby, 11 years Doffer 20 

$2 71 

Pay per 
G. P. W., family, 1907. Occupation. day. 

Daisy, 24 years Weaver 80 

Ida, 19 years Spooler 87 1-2 

Eula, 18 years Spinner ' $126 

Tabby, 16 years Doffer 55 



$3 48 1-2 



Pay pei 
Mrs L., family, 1902. Occupation. day. 

Louise, 21 years Drawing-in 90 

Fannie, 18 years Spinner 95 

$185 



41 

Pay per 
Mrs L., family, 1907. Occupation. day. 

Minnie, 27 years Dra wing-in $1 25 

Louise, 16 years ,Spinner 60 

Fannie, 13 years Spinner 48 



$2 33 



Pay per 
J. D. L., family, 1902. Occupation. day. 

Dan, 17 years Draw frames 45 

Maizie, 15 years Spinner 51 

Mabel, 14 years Spinner 51 

Jacob, 14 years Doffer 25 



$1 72 



Pay per 
J. D. L... in 1907. Occupation. day. 

Dan, 22 years Slubber $114 

John, 21 years Slubber $125 

Mabel, 19 years Weaver 102 

Maizie, 18 years Spinner 96 

Mary, 14 years Spinner 84 

Ernest, 13 years Spinning- 60 

$5 81 

Pay per 
J. G. F., family, 1902. Occupation. day. 

Minnie Spooler 80 

Ed, 21 years Slubber 85 

$1 65 

Pay per 
J. G. F., family, 1907. Occupation. day. 

Minnie Spooler $100 

Ed, 26 years .....Slubber 131 

Will, 17 years Weaving 85 



$3 16 



Pay per 
Family, 1902. Occupation. day. 

M. P. L Cloth hauler 75 

Robt, 23 years Weaver 72 

Fred, 18 years Doffer 50 

Pearl, 20 years Spooler 64 

Belle, 15 years Warper 30 

$2 91 



42 

Pay per 
Family, 1907. Occupation. day. 

M. P. L Cloth hauler $1 00 

Robt, 28 years "Weaver 1 15 

Fred, 23 years Weaver 1 33 j 

Pearl, 20 years Spooler 3/ 

Belle, 18 years Spooler 80 

Dan, 15 years Card room 75 

Reece, 13 years Doffer 50 

Ellen, 13 years Helper at warper 40 



$6.96 
There are hundreds of other cases of the same kind that might be given, but 
I am going to give a number of typical families taken at random in the various 
cotton mills, showing their earning capacity, the actual pay per day, together 
with the ages as best obtainable. I am not giving the names of the mills at which 
these operatives are employed, because some over-zealous foreman may undertake 
to induce the labor to move, and it may not be altogether pleasant to the oper- 
atives valuing privacy to go too much into detail. The following are copies from 
actual pay rolls: 

Pay per 
Family. Occupation. day. 

Mr K Repair shops $160 

J., 24 years .. Carder 135 

Will, 22 years Weaver 170 

Bess, 19 years Spinning 100 



$5 65 

• Pay per 

Family. k Occupation. day. 

Mr I Outdoor work $135 

W. F., 34 years Weaving 1 65 

M., 19 years Weaving 1 35 



$4 35 



Pay per 
Family. Occupation. day. 

Mr C Repair shops $3 75 

W. H., 23 years Wearing 150 

John, 20 years Carding 135 



$6 60 



Pay per 
Family. Occupation. day. 

Mr C. 

Amanda, 21 years Weaving $135 

Florence, 19 years Weaving 130 

Ida, 15 years Spinning 75 

D., 17 years Spinning 85 

1 $4 25 



43 

Pay per 
Family. Occupation. day. 

iAila B., 25 years Spinning $1 25 

J. H., 55 years Spinning 85 

Carrie, 20 j^ears 1 25 

C. R., 24 years Weaving .. 1 75 



$5 10 

Pay per 
Family. Occupation. day. 

W. T. W Repair shops $ 95 

Minnie, 17 years Spinning 1 10/ 

Emma, 19 years Spinning 110' 

Eugene, 15 years Spinning 85 



$4 00 

At "C." mill, in Anderson County. I found that S. C. G., one of the weavers, 
has been earning $24 70 per pay period of two weeks, not including a premium of $2. 
James D. earned $24 70 for a fortnight, exclusive of his premium of $2. At the 
"S." mill, in Spartanburg County, I found that in fourteen days one weaver earned 
$26 52, another $24 26, another $27 25, and a fourth weaver on plain goods, in the same 
time, on sixteen Draper looms, earned $23 51. 

A number of the cotton mills have established a system of offering prizes for 
continuous work, because absenteeism is the bete noir of the cotton mills, and 
such prizes for maximum production and minimum seconds is practically an ad- 
dition to wages. 

It is going to be very difficult to explain fully and satisfactorily to the read- 
ing public how the various wage scales are made up. I have undertaken to show 
what the comparative pay is, and to give experience of individuals, and I am 
now hopeful of explaining how these wages are made up, because I believe that it 
is best that the facts be explained; and I have had the utmost co-operation on 
the part of the cotton mills' offices and employees in these details. To begin with, 
the great difficulty in giving any definite statement of the make-up of wages is, 
the different classes of goods that are manufactured. It costs more to make finer 
goods than it does coarse goods, and as the mills in South Carolina are. making 
all classes of cotton goods, the wage scale apparently differs, whereas the actual 
purpose is to pay practically the same thing for the same amount of work. 

There are some mills in this State that are making goods so delicate that af- 
ter they are baled it takes from nine to twelve yards of manufactured product 
to weigh one pound; whereas there is a mill in Columbia, the Mount Vernon- 
Woodbury plant, that uses two pounds of cotton to make a single yard of goods. 
This explains the great difficulty in the wage scale. As a general thing in inquir- 
ing as to what a mill pays, the accepted form is to get at the pay side for spin- 
dles and the pay cut for weaving— the discrepancy in consequence is more 
apparent than real, as the earning capacity for the individual is practically the 
same. In the weaving process, for instance, where the plain loom is used, more 
money has to be paid to the operatives per cut than with the automatic loom — 
where more looms can be operated by the same person. 

It is very well to segregate the overseers and second hands from the operatives 
as a class, because the second hands average from $2 to $3 per day in practically 



44 

all of the mills in the State. Overseers, who have charge of the various rooms or 
departments average from $4 to $5 per day. This custom of having second hands 
and overseers in the various departments is general throughout the State. In 
some of the smaller mills departments are combined, but the pay is practically 
the same throughout the State. For instance, let us take the card room: The 
picker tenders are generally paid from $1 to $1 10 per day. The drawing-in frame 
tenders are paid from 60 to 75 cents per day. The card grinders are paid from 
$1 to $1 50 per day, varying according to the mills and the amount of work to be 
done. The spinning departments are naturally of the most importance, and 
the general inquiry is directed to the pay of this department. 

It is very difficult to explain thoroughly the apparent variation, and the pay is 
somewhat affected by the class or size of the yarn that is woven. The general 
pay is based upon 12 1-2 cents per side, the frames vary in size, a side being the 
uprights that carry bobbins on which the yarn or thread is spun. All mills 
do not have the same number of spindles per side, and all spinning frames are not 
the same length. As a general thing it might be said that the pay is 12 1-2 cents 
per side, and that the average spinner can run seven sides per day, which will 
make the average pay per spinner for the entire State 87 1-2 cents per day. 

There are a great many spinners who handle very many more than seven sides, 
a great many of them undertaking to operate as many as twelve sides; and on 
the other hand there are a great many spinners who begin with four sides. In 
former days beginners were paid nothing, but now they are paid the same as 
others. 

The pay per side in Middle Carolina is 12 1-2 cents per side. In Charleston it 
is 15 cents per side, and the average is six sides to the spinner. In Newberry 12 
cents is paid for each side that a spinner runs— they are somewhat regulated by 
the weather, more spindles being manageable in cold weather than in warm 
weather. Eight sides is an ordinary average task. 

At one of the Piedmont section cotton mills, of which I have given a compara- 
tive cost sheet, the pay is 11 cents per side, on 20's to 30' s— that is the size of 
the yarn— and 13 cents per side where the yarns are from 20' s to 24' s— also the size 
of the yarn. 

In "A" I found that there was a different wage scale on the warp and the fill- 
ing, in other words, at one of the mills there the warp was paid for at 10 cents 
per side, and the filling at 11 cents, and at another of the mills the warp was 
paid for at 12 1-2 cents per side, and the filling at 20 cents per side. At the lat- 
ter mill it was stated that from eight to ten sides could be spun on warp, while only 
from four to six sides could be run on filling, hence the difference in the pay 
per side. 

It is not regarded as being essential to have as careful work done on the fill- 
ing as it is on the warp. In some of the mills the filling is spun by the newer 
help, the warp being left to the more experienced workers, but, of course, the 
general idea is to have both the warp and the filling as well spun as possible. 

In the Horse Creek Valley section the basis is 12 1-2 cents per side, and most 
of the mills there pay by the hour, which is simply a more direct means of the 
operatives knowing exactly what they are earning. In the "C" and "L." sections 
the pay seems to be 12 cents per side on ordinary work, while some of the mills 
around R. H. are paying as much as 15 cents per side. At one of the mills 
there, they are paying 15 cents per side for spinning on 30's and 40's, 112 spindles 
to the side. 



45 

The colored goods mills, that is those that are making ginghams and other 
classes of colored goods — the colored work not running as smoothly and being 
more trying, commands a little higher wages. The mills around "O" are evident- 
ly paying more for their spining than some of the other mills, their wage scale 
showing 15 cents per side for the filling and 14 cents for the warp. They are run- 
ning 256 spindles to the frame or 128 to the side— the average ' spinner runing 
from 3 to 8 sides. 

It may be mentioned in this connection that President Smith, of the Orange- 
burg Mills, offered to pay direct to ths spinner — not to the parent — 50 cents each 
pay day if the spinner would not lose a day during each pay period. The oper- 
atives were evidently getting enough money and did not care particularly wheth- 
er or not they lost one day and this bonus. 

At Piedmont there is a slight difference in the pay on warp and filling; the 
latter being 12 1-2 cents per side. At the Whitney Mills the pay is 12 cents per 
side, and where the operator is expert enough to run as many as eight sides or 
more, there is a premium of one-half cent per side. In the "P. D." section the pay 
for spinning is just about the same. It will therefore be seen that practically 
throughout the State of South Carolina the pay is based on what is known as 
12 1-2 cents per side, and the idea is tha an average operator could run eight 
sides. 

The disposition is to make the pay in the spinning room good enough to hold 
the better class of labor, for the reason that since the spinning romm is the kin- 
dergarten for the operatives after they grow up they will be sufficiently 
paid to remain in the spinning room. Al of the cotton mills are adopting this 
policy, those in the "P." section being particularly anxious to hold the older help 
in the spinning room. At "W." not long ago the pay for spinning was only eight 
cents per side, while now on the class o goods on which this mill is working it 
is 11 cents. Within the last few years here has been an increase of from 11 to 
12 1-2 cents per side at two of the largest mills in Spartanburg County, an increase 
in the pay of the speeders from 5 1-2 cent to 6 cents. These increases have been— as 
have all others— purely voluntary on th part of the mills. 

To-morrow I shall discuss the pay of he individual operative in the weave 
room. 



ARTICLE VIIL-The Pay of Individual Operatives. 

Contimiing the discussion of the pay of the individual operatives, let us now take 
up the other department of the average cotton mill, that is, the weave room, 
where the greatest amount of money is spent, the pay is larger than it is for 
any other class of help, because as a rule the most expert and the oldest em- 
ployees are in this department, although, as I have stated, the tendency is not 
to change the workers, but to continue them in the department in which they 
begin, so that they can become more expert. The weavers throughout the State 
are earning on an average from $1 10 to $2 a day, the average . per hand being 
between the high and the low mark. Not many years ago there was a great 
many women employed in the weave rooms. There are still many women em- 
ployed there, but by way of illustration when I went through the weave room of 
the Chiquola Cotton Mills there were only four women at work and 56 men. Of 
these three women were married. 

The operatives classes are earning enough money now for them to be privi- 
leged to have their wives and younger children remain at home, taking care of 
home affairs. 

To begin with, there are several things that enter into the scale of wages for 
weaving, the first and most important of which is whether or not the loom on 
which the weaving is done is what is known as a plain loom, where the empty 
bobbin has to be replaced with a full one by hand, or whether it be done on an 
automatic, or what is most generally known in this State as a Draper loom, 
where the transfer of an empty bobbin and its replacement with a full bobbin is 
accomplished automatically. More looms can be attended to where the bobbin is 
automatically inserted than with the plain loom, where the bobbin has to be re- 
placed by hand. 

Then the width of the cloth, of course, has a great deal to do with the speed 
with which the cloth can be woven, as has the picks per inch, or what is tech- 
nically known as the "pick" of the goods; then plain cloths are much more easily 
woven than those of fancy design, or where the color scheme has to be consid- 
ered. As is the case with spinning, the idea is for the weaver to average up about 
the same pay per day commensurate with the operative's skill, whether the work 
is on plain looms or automatic, or whether it is on plain goods or fancy weaves. 

For instance, in Central Carolina one of the largest cotton mills is paying 
10 1-2 cents per cut of sixty yards, where the pick is 60x52, and the goods weigh 
six yards to the pound, and it pays 11 cents for the same length cut where the 
pick is 64x56 and the goods weigh five and one-half yards per pound. 

In the same community 38 1-2-inch goods, known as 72x76, are paid for at the 
rate of 27 cents per cut of sixty yards. One of the largest cotton mills in the up- 
per part of the State ("U.") which has recently revised its pay for its weaving 
department, has figured out its pay in this manner: 

38 1-2 inches, 5.15 yards per pound, 64x64 pick, 30 warp and 40 filling, 22 cents per 
cut of sixty yards on plain looms. 

38-inch cloth, weighing 4.75 yards per pound, 68x72, same warp and filling, 24 1-2 
cents cut of sixty yards. 

35-inch goods, weighing 5 yards per pound, 68x72 pick, 18 1-2 cents per cut of 
fifty yards. 



47 

On heavier goods this mill is paying; 

36-inch, 4 yards, 48x48 pick, 15 1-2 cents per cut, sixty yards. 

36-inch, 5 yards, 48x48 pick, 15 1-2 cents per cut, sixty yards. 

40-inch, 3.90 yards, 48x40 pick, 17 1-2 cents per cut 

40-inch, 3.60 yards, 48x40 pick, 15 cents per cut— sixty yards. 

The pick is the number of threads to the square inch. 

On this same class of goods, which are perhaps most commonly manufactured 
in this State, the "S." mills pay 11 cents per cut on Draper looms, for the 38 1-2- 
inch, 5.15 yards* 64x64 pick goods, and 22 cents on the plain looms for the same 
goods, and same length cuts. At "A," where both styles of looms are used, the 
pay on 35-inch goods, five yards to the pound, 68x72 pick, is 12 cents per cut on 
the automatic loom, and 23 cents per cut on the plain loom. 

At another mill in "P," section, the pay now is 15 cents per cut of sixty-two 
yards for three-yard goods, where the warp is 48, and the filling 48. This is one 
of the most popular products in the Piedmont section, and a basis of 15 cents on 
common looms is ordinary. It will therefore be seen that the length of the cut, 
the pick, the weight of the goods and the width all enter into this calculation. 
Mills in the lower part of the State making sackcloth are paying 9 and 10 cents 
per cut. 

At "N," they are now paying 18, 18 1-2 cents and 19 cents per cut on 3.75 and 
2.80 goods. These 3.75 goods are 48x44 pick and 18 warp and 16 1-2 filling, and the 
pay is for cuts of 56 yards. This work is all done on what is known as the 
Whiten, which is a plain loom. The weavers run from six to eight of these plain 
looms, and the average pay is about $1 50 per operative. 

At "G." they pay 18 1-2 cents for cuts of 60 1-2 yards of sheeting, 4%x44 pick, 
and on the Draper loom they pay 8 1-2 cents per cut of 60 1-2 yards of 36 1-2 inch 
four yard sheetings, 52x48 pick— the 18 1-2 cent rate being on plain looms, and the 
8 1-2 cents rate being on Draper automatic looms. The idea in this mill is not to 
have any of the operatives run more than sixteen automatic looms and half as 
many plain looms. This can be done where there is an ample supply of help, 
but it cannot be done where the help has to be "spread out very thin." In one of 
the mills, which is paying very well for spinning, they are paying 7 cents per 
cut on 36-inch goods, weighing 6.15 per pound, 44x44 pick, on automatic looms. 

At "P." one of the operatives told me that he was getting 8 1-4 cents per cut on 
drills, and that he was running eighteen looms, and managed to get off on an aver- 
age of 21 cuts per day. He went on to figure with me that by losing twenty min- 
utes per day on account of the reduction in the hours of labor the loss was one- 
half of a cent per loom, or about 5 per cent per day, figuring on a basis of a 
loss of twenty minutes on each of his eighteen looms. 

In the "R. H." section I found that they were paying 27 1-2 cents per cut of 
52 yards of 39-inch goods, 68x72 pick, and that the weavers were earning all the 
way from $1 25 to $2 25 per da^. 

At the "W." Mill, which is a rural establishment, they are making 4-yard 
goods, 18 1-2 warp, 19 1-4 filling on Draper looms, and the pay is 8 1-2 cents per 
cut. At this mill the average number of looms run by an operative is sixteen au- 
tomatic. At a mill in another county, where they are manufacturing considerable 
3-yard goods, 36-inch width, 48x48 pick, thev are paying 7 3-4 cents per cut of 62 
yards, and this same mill is paying on automatic looms for 4-yard goods, 36 inches 
wide, 60x56 pick, 20x23 yarn, 9 1-2 cents per cut of 62 yards. A mill that is only 
about ten miles away is paying 10 cents for the same goods, but the chances are 



48 

that the weavers just at this time claim that the work is running smoother 
at the one mill than at the other. At some of the mills I might mention in pass- 
ing the weavers are paid by the day, or at other places by the loom. 

At the "P." Mill, where some of the machinery is new and things have not 
been running exactly as is desired, they are paying the weavers $1 35 per day 
flat. At another mill I found that they were paying 5 cents per loom on very nar- 
row goods, and the operator was expected to run about thirty looms; or where the 
same mill was working on drills the pay was 7 cents per loom, the requirement 
being that the operator should have charge of from fourteen to twenty-two 
looms; the pay, therefore, averaged $1 54 to $1 80 per day, on the basis of 7 cents 
per loom, and where the operatives were on heavier goods they were given two 
or three more looms, and the pay was 6 cents per loom. 

One of the mills that has made a great success on print cloths weighing 
7.60-10O yards per pound is paying 7 1-2 cents per cut. These goods measuring 27 1-2 
inches wide; the same pay seems to prevail where the goods weigh 7.35-100 
pounds. The operatives are handling twenty-four looms and are making an aver- 
age of $1 68, where the cloth is running smoothly, and the operator gives close at- 
tention. The cuts are 51 yards. At this same mill I talked to an operator who 
was getting off a production of twenty-two cuts on twenty-four looms per day, 
and I found that there were rare instances of operators running as many as thirty 
looms per day. In some of these cases they had assistants to do the filling-in of 
bobbins on the automatic Draper looms. 

There is a wide difference of opinion as to whether or not It is more profit- 
able to have the automatic Draper looms, or whether it is better to stick to the 
plain loom, and some of the most interesting discussions that I heard were on 
the advisability of displacing the plain looms and replacing them with the auto- 
matic looms. One mill president took me into his mill and showed me how beau- 
tifully and how persistently his Crompton and Knowles looms were running, and 
assured me that he would not take them out under any conditions, both on ac- 
count of the results in weaving and the fact that he could repair at practically no 
expense. At other mills, notably in the Piedmont, I was told that it was simply 
a question of getting in the automatic looms and the ability of the manufacturers 
to supply the demand. 

At Pelzer, for instance, Capt Smyth has recently thrown out more than one- 
quarter of a million dollars worth of old looms and machinery, and replaced 
them with automatic looms and more modern apparatus. Mr W. E. Beattie, at 
Piedmont, has taken the same position. At the Newberry Cotton Mills I found that 
experiment was made with automatic looms, and they were replaced with the 
Whiten looms; and so it goes. There is one thing that is very certain, and that 
is, it takes fewer operatives to run a weave shop equipped with automatic looms 
than it does with plain looms. The average number of plain looms run by a 
weaver is from eight to ten, and twice as many or .more automatic looms are 
operated by the same help. The initial cost for the automatic loom is about three 
times what it is for the plain looms. 

At one of the modern mills in Anderson County, that is working on 28 and 39- 
inch convertibles, which are in time to become percales, a number of the opera- 
tives are running as many as twenty-six looms, and two of them are on thirty 
looms, each having small assistance. These operatives are being paid 9 cents per 
cut of 61 yards on the narrow 28-inch goods, and 12 cents per cut on the 39-inch 
goods; and they are easily earning $1 50 per day. The average number of looms 



49 

run at the mill is from eighteen to twenty. Again, on the other hand, one of the 
claims of the mill president, who has plain looms, is that he always averages a 
92 per cent production, and that he has less than 2 per cent of seconds and shorts, 
and that on an average run of eight looms the operator can make $1 30 per day, 
and if he can handle as many as twelve looms that he can earn $2. In some of 
the mills, where the help is plentiful, the weaver is restricted to eight plain 
looms. This insures closer attention to the work and better results. 

I have already said something about the premium system. This is in vogue in 
quite a number of cotton mills in South Carolina. 

At the "P." Mill there is a reward of one-fourth of a cent extra per cut for 
a ninety per cent production. At another mill there is a premium of $2, where 
the operator works every day for a fortnight and gets out a ninety-five per cent 
productiou. At another mill, in Anderson County, a reward of 15 cents per loom 
is given at the end of each two weeks, where a production of 95 per cent is made 
and less than 5 per cent of seconds are gotten on automatic looms; and a reward 
of 25 cents per loom is paid where the production is 9(f per cent, and less than 5 
per cent of seconds are produced on plain looms. At some of the other mills pre- 
miums are paid to the section hands. In several of the mills I found this notice: 
"The section hand getting the highest production and the lowest per cent of sec- 
onds will be paid a premium of $3 at the end of each month." And in this con- 
nection it is explained that one hundred looms ought to produce 90 cuts per day 
of 4-yard sheeting. This is the practice in Union and at other large mills of this 
type. 

At another mill in Anderson County, where the weavers make one hundred per 
cent production, that is full time, running during the noon hour, a premium of 
7 1-2 cents per loom is given on a basis of twenty looms to the weaver. Out of 
the seventy-six weavers in this mill for one week thirty-two were on what is 
known as the "roll of honor" and secured this reward, which, of course, is a bonus 
on their wages. Quite a number of mills made increases in wages about the 
first of July. They did not do so on account of the new law relative to hours 
of labor. 

The general idea of the mill president is always to have a satisfied lot of help, 
and to pay them just as much as is possible. 

In former days "green help" was not paid at all, and there was frequently a 
"waiting list." At this time, owing to the scarcity of labor, there is no waiting 
list at any of the mills, and none of the labor is so "green" that it is not paid 
for. 

Five years ago there were a great many children that were paid as little as 
25 cents per day, now the smallest of children can run as many as four sides and 
get 50 cents for that, or they are employed at sweeping, for which they get the 
same pay, or if little boys, they are engaged in doffing, for which they receive 
larger pay. 

The general rule throughout the cotton mills is to pay every two weeks, that 
is every other Saturday, or some other given day in the week. I found only one 
mill, the Aetna, at Union, that paid once a week. Of course there may be others. 
The operatives themselves seem to be satisfied with the fortnightly payment, and 
quite a number of the help told me that it would be better for them, and that they 
would save much more money, if they were paid less frequently. 

In the various other departments the average pay per operative is in line with 
what has been given in the previous statements. In the spinning room, for in- 



50 

stance, doff boys make from 50 to 75 cents per day; floor scrubbers are paid from 
75 cents to $1 per day. The quill cleaners from 60 cents to $1 per day. In the 
spooling' room the spooler girls are paid by the box; the pay being largely regu- 
lated by the size of the yarn and averaging from six and a half to ten cents per 
box. The bobbin boys are generally paid by the day; in the warping room the war- 
per tenders are paid by the beam, the average pay being 20 to 25 cents per beam. 
The tieing-in girls in the warping room are paid from 50 cents to $1 per day. In 
the slasher room the tenders are paid from $1 25 to $1 75 per day. And so it goes 
throughout the various departments of cotton mills. I have devoted consider- 
able time and space to the pay of the average cotton mill operative. I will have 
to devote another chapter to the tendency to absenteeism. There is perhaps 
no other employment in this State in which the help can remain away from work 
with as much impunity as in the cotton mills. If a clerk in a dry goods store, 
or a bookkeeper in a bank, or a teacher in a school were to think of absenting 
himself from his work as much as do the cotton mill operatives they would soon 
get the "pink slip." 

I have made inquiry in various parts of the State as to the average pay of 
clerks. I have this letter from Rock Hill: "The average pay for clerks in our 
city, about $50 for males, about $35 for females." Prom Greenville I have a note 
in which this statement is made by Mr H. Endel: "I should say the average pay 
for clerks in Greenville is $50 per month." These two letters are in line with others 
representing various parts of the State. 

It is to be remembered that the matter of rent alone figures considerably in 
the expense of living in a town or city, particularly when compared with the mill 
operatives' expense for rent. 

In closing this article I want to emphasize the pay that is awarded those 
who teach in the public schools of South Carolina, because teachers are supposed 
to be particularly prepared and to have a profession. The State Superintendent of 
Education writes me that "the average annual salary of white teachers is $253, that 
of colored teachers $95." The average length of school was "for white schools 
24 25-100 weeks; for colored schools 14 9-100 weeks." This will figure out that the 
average pay of the white school teachers in South Carolina, both male and female, 
based upon twelve months, is $21 08 per month per teacher. If based upon the 
actual time employed, which is about six months, the pay is $42 16 per month per 
teacher. As will be seen by the various figures I have given, either men or wo- 
men working in the cotton mills and exercising less patience are readily making 
more money than the average public school teachers. 



ARTICLE IX.— The Home Life of the Operatives. 

We have already considered in previous letters where the operatives come 
ftom and tried in a general way to explain their conditions, to picture the home 
life of the mill hands before they engaged in cotton manufacturing, what money 
they are earning for themselves arid theii families; and now we would tell how they 
Hve, what they do with their money, what they eat, how they dress, and later 
On we shall discuss at length what they and the cotton mills do for their children 
,n the way of education and religious training. 

When the operatives go to the cotton mills they do not generally take very 
Ijiuch with them. Of course some who go there are more prosperous than others, 
But a great many of the North Carolinians who are now finding their way to 
the cotton mills have but little, because they have been accustomed to but little 
jn their primitive mountain homes. It does not take them very long to get ac- 
customed to modern things, including the phonograph and organ, when they get 
to the mill community, because the soliciting agents are exceedingly active in 
pieir efforts to get the new-comers interested in the "ins" and "outs" of the in- 
stalment business. When the operative arrives at the mill village he is turned 
Ifver to what is known as the outside man, who assigns him with his family to 
•the best available house. If there be any choice as to houses it is given to those 
who have been at the mills longest, and from what I could gather the desira- 
Ifllity of the home is very largely based upon its nearness to the cotton mill, 
■nee the early start which has to' be made in the day's work is about the 
worst phase of the mill work. 

I In this State all the cotton mills own their dwellings and provide homes for 
■heir operatives at nominal rental. The idea is to build the homes adjacent to 
the cotton mills, to have the operatives lose as little time as possible in getting 
to and from their work. 

[ The idea of the mills providing homes for their help does not prevail in the New 
England States, and the operatives there rent from outside landlords, paying 
iirger rents and getting their homes where they can. All the operatives' dwell- 
ings in this State are of wood, as are most of the homes in South Carolina. The 
purpose of the cotton mills is to get enough rent out of their operatives to pay 
Interest on the investments, and to keep the houses in repair, and from what 
I could gather, this is not done because of the competition for labor, and the 
consequent concessions. 

The homes that are provided are very generally the same throughout the mill 
listricts, only that some of the houses are kept in better repair and look fresher 
and cleaner, but as a rule, the desire of the owners is to keep their houses in 
is good repair as possible, and they do not stint themselves in spending money on 
the villages if it can accomplish any good. The rent is generally by the room, and 
varies in the various communities, running all the way from nothing to $1 per 
room per month. 

I would give some idea of the way these things, run: While it appears that in 
pme communities the rents ate higher than others, there are other compensations 
'hat equalize the apparent difference in rent. In some of the large communities 
he rent system is as follows: 

Piedmont— 50 cents per room per month. 



52 

Mollohon— 50 cents per room per month. 

Monaghan— 75 cents per 'room per month. 

Whitney— 50 cents per room per month. 

Union— 40 to 75 cents per room per month, according to distance from mill. 

Pelzer— 50 cents per room per month. 

Pacolet— 50 cents per room per month. 

Columbia— 50 cents per room per month. 

Orangeburg— $2 50 per month for a three-room house, $5 per month for a 
six-room house. 

Lancaster, Chester and Fort Mill— 20 cents per room per week. 

Graniteville, Four Rooms— 94 cents to $136 every two weeks; and five rooms 
$1 50 every two weeks, according to location. 

Brandon— 75 cents per room per month— this is the general charge for the 
Greenville group of mills. 

For the Anderson group the rent is $1 per room per month. 
For the group including Pelzer, Williamston and Piedmont the rent is 50 
cents per room per month. 

The general style of the house is familiar to most people living in this State, 
and the types are generally what are known as three, four and six-room cot- 
tages. They are tightly built, have ample windows and doors, have a ten-foot 
ceiling, are generally weather-boarded and ceiled with wood on the inside, and 
there is no occasion for crowding, each of the houses generally occupying a lot 
covering fully one-quarter of an acre, and if there is any desire for more room 
it can be gotten. 

At Pelzer, for instance, where the typical house may be found, a three-room 
house has two rooms of 16x16 each, and a back room, generally used as kitchen, 
12x16. At Graniteville, for instance, the houses are constructed with a parlor 
or sitting room, fifteen feet square, with three .windows; two bed rooms 15 feet 
square each, with two windows, a kitchen 12x12 and a closet. 

Each house has a closet on the back piazza, where vegetables and other sup- 
plies are kept, and a front piazza for use in the evenings. Each house has fenced 
off a garden plot 50x150. The new houses that are being built at the Spartan Mills 
to replace those recently burned are typical. Of the sixty-two new houses being 
constructed thirty-seven contain four rooms and twenty-five six rooms each. The 
six-room cottages are generally constructed for two families, each to occupy three 
rooms; or if such a six-room house is to be occupied by one family it will pro- 
vide four bed rooms, 15x15 each, a dining room and a kitchen 10x12 each. The 
kitchens are provided with a sink and running water, which is charged for at the 
late of forty cents per house per month. All these houses are provided with 
coal grates, as the general disposition throughout the entire Piedmont section is 
to burn coal instead of wood. Each of the houses is provided with its own toilet 
in the rear of the house. These are simply types of houses that are to be found 
throughout the State in the cotton mill communities. I found that there is a very 
general disposition and desire on the part of all the cotton mill owners to give 
their operatives garden plots in the hope that they will cultivate both vegetable 
and flower gardens. A great many of the operatives do cultivate both kinds of 
gardens— but unfortunately, perhaps, there is no authority to require such things, 
and, as is the case on the farms or in the cities, these matters are regulated very 
largely by individual taste. At a number of cotton mills, notably Monaghan, 



53 

Union, Whitney, Pelzer, Anderson, Rock Hill, prizes are offered for the best gar- 
dens and some of these gardens are really very attractive. 

Now the operatives have their homes, and it depends very largely upon the 
individi al as to how attractively they keep them. A great many of the homes 
I visited were very prettily kept, as attractive as any homes could he, while 
others were dirty, ill-kept and showed every evidence of entire indifference as to 
whether the floors were swept or not. There seems to be a general desire on the 
part of operatives to have window curtains, and a great many are very pretty. 
In some of the homes the decorations are considerable, and fancy as well as fam- 
ily pictures are very largely used. It is an exception to go into a home and not 
find enlarged photographs or highly colored lithographs. In a great many com- 
munities I was told that the bane of the operative as a class was the habit of 
buying things on the instalment plan. Indeed at one of the cotton mills I was 
told by a man who sold organs that anything could be sold to a cotton mill op- 
erative on credit— with collections on the instalment plan— from an organ to a last 
year's almanac, and when I asked him why any one would buy a "last year's al- 
manac" he replied that it would be bought on credit fox- the jokes that were Sn 
it. As a matter of fact, the first thing that the operatives have to contend with 
after they get into the mill village is the agent who wants to sell furniture, pic- 
tures, a sewing machine, books and a Bible, and now a phonograph on the in- 
stalment plan. There is no trouble then for the new operative and his family 
to get an ample supply of furniture and decorations for his new home. 

For instance, let me take up a few of the homes as* they were found: 

Mrs "J.," at the Chiquola Cotton Mills, has a family of eight children; five 
boys and three girls. They have four rooms; in one bed room Mr and Mrs "J." 
sleep, with two of the younger children, the youngest being a baby a year old, 
and the other six children are divided between the two bed rooms. The house la 
absolutely clean and tidy. In the living room there is a nice clean bed and a sew- 
ing machine, an ordinary clock, half a dozen pictures, and on the mantlepiece a 
lithograph of former Governor Heyward. In the spare room there is a bed 
with highly colored embroidered pillow shams and a Marseilles spread. Around 
this room are a number of family portraits, including that of the husband and 
wife and a brother who served in the Spanish-American war, together with his 
record in the Spanish-American war, and several other pictures. In the centre of 
the room is a new walnut table, on which were a number of modern books, and 
incidentally a Bible, for which $8 25 had recently been paid. In this room alto- 
gether there were nine pictures. A.d.joining this was a bed-room, occupied by the 
boys, and it was neat "and tidily kept. In the hallway, between the rooms, was a 
hat rack. All of the windows bore lace curtains. The family had a very good gar- 
den and managed to raise all their vegetable supplies. 

A little further down this same street I went into another home that was 
not nearly so neatly kept, and where the brightness was not so apparent. The 
home seemed to be in charge of a grandmother, and at the time I called there 
she had a baby of less than a year old on each knee, and a little fellow less than 
three years old running around with a sweet potato in his hand. This good wo- 
man had six daughters and three boys, most of whom were working in the mill. 
She told me that she had five members of her immediate family then at work 
in the mill; and she had gone to the cotton mill because she had six daughters. 
The husband was rather inclined to prefer farm work, but readily agreed that 
there was not nearly as much money in farming as there was in the mill. There 



54 

were no curtains in this house, no garden, and there seemed to be but very litth 
care as to the general condition; and yet these homes were within a block of eacl 
other, and. the people were getting practically the same wages. 

It simply shows that it all depends upon the individual and not upon the cottor 
mill as to how things are kept. 

But, as I have said, and I wish to insist upon it, the average cotton mill oper- 
ative is as ambitious as any one else to have a neat and comfortable home, anc 
their first money goes toward beautifying their homes. It is to be noted that 
the mills themselves are spending money freely in improving the streets, and the 
general condition of the homes. In a great many cotton mill villages new houses 
are being built, as the operatives themselves are desirous of having more room, 
and families that heretofore were satisfied to live in one or two rooms, are now, 
on account of the increase of wages, asking for more commodious homes, and the 
mill presidents are generally anxious to satisfy them in this respect. At one cot- 
ton mill, Union-Buffalo, as much as $50,000 has been spent within the last year 
in repairing, renewing and repainting the homes of the operatives. At a great 
many of the cotton mills, particularly during the season when I visited them, the 
houses were being repainted, and I suppose that in twenty-five mill communities 
every house was repainted or repaired during the last summer season. The Un- 
ion-Buffalo Mill has added twenty-five new buildings for the accommodation of 
the operatives. It may be a very good thing, so that the people will have a bet- 
ter understanding, to note that at Union there are two hundred and thirty-three 
cottages for the operatives, and two hundred and forty-five at Buffalo. 

The mill community at Buffalo comprises nine hundred operatives, and a pop- 
ulation of 2,000. 

At Newberry there are one hundred and eighty-three houses, the mill force con- 
sists of six hundred operatives and a population of 1,000 

At Union the operatives number eighthundred, and the mill community 600. 

At Chiquola Mills there are ninety-nine four-room cottages and eleven six-room 
homes— the number of operatives being four hundred, with a total mill popula- 
tion of 1,000. 

The introduction of electricity in cotton mills has been utilized for the im- 
provement of the various mill villages. Wherever electricity has been available, 
the streets are being lighted with arc lights. 

A great many of the cotton mills, such as Lancaster and Monaghan, have 
spent considerable money planting trees and flowers for improving the appear- 
ance of their villages, and it is no uncommon thing for the cotton mills to spend 
several hundred dollars each year for this kind of permanent civic improvement. 

How do the cotton mill operatives live? 
i It would be better to ask how they lived before they went to the cotton mills, 
and then to compare their condition and their bill of fare with what it now is. 
The consensus of opinion is that nothing is too good for them, and they buy the 
very best that is to be had from the grocery stores. The company stores Or the 
independent stores in mill communities cannot impose upon the operatives with 
any cheap or inferior goods, as they insist upon having the very best, even if it 
be the most expensive. Where the operatives do not raise their own vegetables, 
as they ought to do, and as they are encouraged to do, they buy freely from the 
huckster wagons that visit the mill villages. 

The cow plays an important role in the economy of cotton mill life, and this 
phase of the life in the mill communities was so interesting to me that I am al- 



55 

most inclined to write a separate chapter on it. I found at Pacolet that the lo- 
cal physician said that what the mill operatives needed more than anything else 
was good pure milk. 

At Monaghan, for instance, there are two hundred and ten houses, and this 
number of homes supports one hundred and twenty-five cows. At Chiquola the 
United States census had an inspector there recently, and he found one cow to 
every three houses. At Piedmont fully sixty-six per cent of the operatives have 
their own cows, one man having as many as nine. The cow is the pet of the 
operative, and there is not a mill community of those that I visited that has 
not a considerable number of cows. The mills always provide pastures. At Pel- 
zer there are three pastures; at Newberry there is ample pasturage on a creek; 
in Columbia the Parker Mills provide pastures and expect the operative to keep 
their kine on the edge of the village. At Piedmont there are four pastures. At 
the Saxon Mills cows are tabooed in the village proper, but they are well cared 
for outside. At Whitney no hogs or cowpens are allowed in the village, but there 
are three pastures on the outskirts; and so it goes throughout the cotton mills of 
the State. There is no reason why every mill operative should not get pure milk 
from the cows that are in the mill communities themselves. I found that milk 
is selling in most of the communities at 20 cents per gallon for sweet milk, 10 
cents per gallon for buttermilk, -20 cents per pound for butter. 

Another important factor in cotton mill expenses is that of wood and coal. I 
found that the cotton mills have been disposed to supply wood and coal to their 
operatives at actual cost, and in a great many instances they have lost money 
at it, and they are now having some clerk or employee, connected with the mill, 
handle this part of the business so that it can be done without expense to the 
operatives or to the mill proper. The wood supply is getting very scarce in up- 
per Carolina, and the desire is for the operatives to install coal grates, but it is 
a rather slow process, most of the new houses that are being built are equipped 
for coal, and in a great many of the older houses the fireplaces are being changed 
to use coal. Most people, particularly those living in cities, can appreciate the 
cost of wood, and I am giving the cost of wood as supplied to the operatives by 
a number of the cotton mills simply for illustrative purposes: 

Newberry— Wood, $2 40 per cord, de-livered; soft coal. $4 per ton. 

Pelzer— Wood, oak and pine, $3 50 per cord, delivered, one-half $175; coal $5 
per ton. 

Pacolet— Wood, $3 50 per cord. 

Graniteville— Wood, $2 50 per cord for pine, $2 80 for oak, delivered; coal $5 
pe. ton. 

Brandon— Wood, $3 per cord, 85 cents one-quarter cord. 

Richland Mills— Wood, $3 50 per cord, delivered. 

Orangeburg— Wood, $2 per cord for pine. 

Rock Hill— $2 96 per cord for wood, $5 50 per ton for coal. 

Anderson— $2 75 per cord for wood delivered, $5 for coal. 

Spartan Mills— $3 per cord for wood, a basis of $3 50 per one-quarter cord wood, 
delivered; coal $5. 

Anderson Mills— $5 50 per lump coal; wood $4 per cord, or $1 a load. 

Hamer Cottin Mills— Wood, $3 50 per cord. 

Union-Buffalo— Wood. $3 75 unsawed. $4 25 sawed; coal $5 25 and $5 50 per ton. 

Whitney Mills— $3 per cord for wood, or $1 60 for half cord; coal $5 per ton. ana 
$2 60 for half ton. 



56 

These are simply types of prices that apply to all of the cotton mills i 
South Carolina, and always including delivery. 

One of the large cotton mills in this State last year lost $1,600 on account of sup - 
plying wood to the operatives at what was supposed to be actual cost, but th 
loss was brought about to a large extent by the difference in measurement betwee-i 
the receiving and the selling cords. 

A very good way to get at the cost of living is to inquire as to the cost o' 
board in families. For instance, a comparative cost of living, as between an 
of the smaller towns and Columbia, will give a very good idea to the outsider a. 
to how much more it costs to live in Columbia than it does in the smaller com 
munities. At each of the places I visited I made inquiry as to the cost of boari 
for a young man or woman who might be without family and who would prefer 
to board with some family, or at a regular boarding house while working in th<» 
cotton mill. 

The average pay for board is about $9 per month; this includes lodging- 
room supplied with necessities and kept in order. I found that among the Bel 
gians, who are at the Monaghan Cotton Mills, there are a number of boarders whi 
pay $10 per month, and this not only includes the board and room, but it include 
washing, darning and attending to the repair of clothes. 

Taken up at random, and without undertaking to give the charges for board 
in all of the various communities, a general idea of the price for board may b« 
had from these rates: 

Graniteville— $4 to $4 50 every two weeks. 

Columbia— $2 50 to $3 every two weeks. 

Newberry— $2 25 to $2 50 every two weeks. - 

Chiquola— $10 per month. 

Pacolet— $8 per month. 

Orr Cotton Mills— $6 to $10 per month. 

Saxon Mills— $8 to $12 per month. 

Anderson— $1 50 to $2 per week. 
Quite a number of the mills maintain boarding houses or hotels, at which the— 
help can get good accommodations at a minimum price. At the Pacolet Mill , 
which has a first-class hotel, operatives and office, help get first-class board •< \ 
$12 50 per month. 

While at one of the cotton mills in the Piedmont section I met a couple of 
young men who were employed in the weave room, and I asked them how muc 
they earned and how they lived? One of them named "EL" told me that he w* 
earning $1 40 per day, and on this readily supported himself, wife and child, aid 
that he has been in the mill for three yers. Another one, named "W.," who made 
$120 per day, told me that was doing very well with himself and wife, 
that he always had money in his pocket, never borrowed any, and paid his bills 
and got along on his pay. This is a very interesting phase of life in our Stat--, 
and when we remember that clerks and others have to pay out a considerable por- 
tion of their income for rent it will be appreciated that the mill operative has 
something to his advantage at the outset. At Graniteville I asked a young man, 
named "Dock M.," how he managed to live on his income of $1 a day; he to d. 
me that he earned $1 a day in the cloth room, which made his income $12 for ea* h 
two weeks. H> seemed to be in a good humor, was neatly dressed, clean-shaven, 
paid his bills every fortnight, owned nothing and had some money. I inquir-a* 
from several of the people around, and they told me that he was regarded >\ 



57 

good pay and as a very good young man. He is married and his wife does not 
work in the mill. He gave me this statement of his annual expenses, which will 
indicate that he has not very much margin out of which to clothe himself and 
Wife, and yet he told me that he managed to dress very well, and he certainly i 
had a tidy appearance when I was talking to him. 
Here are his expenses for two weeks: 

For house (four rooms) $1 50 

For wood (lasts a month) 1 40 

For meat 75 

Groceries 6 00 

I. O. O. F. (dues) 20 

For burial dues 10 

For milk 18 

For washing 50 

Vegetables 

Total $10 63 

Another operative and his family gave me this statement of his actual ex- 
penditures as itemized: 

For rooms (three rooms) $f 00 

For wood ..... 1 00 

For groceries 12 00 

For washing 1 00 

Milk and butter 2 00 

Red Men and I. O. O. F. (dues) .... 50 
Vegetables, home raised. 

Total $19 50 

In several other communities I made inquiry along the same line and found 
that the operatives' expenses ran along pretty much in this manner. I went to 
some of the company stores, and there found bills of what the help bought for 
their tables from the stores, and these bills can be analyzed to see how much 
it really costs some people to live. These bills, I was advised, represented the 
purchases for two weeks, and it was very rare that these particular families sup- 
plemented their purchases during this fortnightly period. Of course, they bought 
milk and vegetables if they did not have them at home. 

"A. C. H.," fourteen in family, two weeks' supplies: 

Merchandise bills $6 50 

50 pounds flour 1 30 

10 pounds lard 1 25 

Sugar 1 00 

Coffee 25 

Irish potatoes 25 

Salt 10 

6 cans blackberries 50 

Checks supplies 3 90 

Total $15 00 



58 
M. M.," two in family: 

24 pounds flour 65 

Bacon 50 

Sugar 25 

Lard 65 

Tripe 5 

Soap 15 

Salt 5 

Blackberries and dessert peaches . . 1 50 

Total $3 30 

W. "Li.," three in family: 

50 pounds flour $1 30 

Bacon 50 

Lard 75 

Coffee 25 

Sugar 25 

5 gallons oil 75 

Total $3 80 

J. B.," three in family: 

1-2 bushel meal 45 

24 pounds flour 65 

Coffee 25 

>Ribbed bacon 50 

Soda 5 

Lard 35 

Pink beans , 25 

5 cans peaches ...I 50 

5 cans salmon 50 

Total ..$3 50 

' family— ten in all: 

100 pounds flour $2 60 

1-2 bushel meal ,. 45 

1 ham 2 00 

1 1 bacon rib 100 

Grits '. 25 

Soap 25 

1-2 bushel potatoes 65 

Butter beans 50 

20 pounds lard 2 40 

8 pounds Arbuckle's coffee 140 

1 bale hay 195 

1 gallon oil 20 

• ' Total $13.65 



59 

"D. P. W.," four in family: 

50 pounds flour ... $1 30 

1-4 bushel meal 25 

Coffee 50 

Sugar 50 

Cottolene 55 

Bacon ribs $1 00 

Total $4 00 

This family has one working in mill and four in the family. These supplies are 
for two weeks. Washing, where it is done away from the home, averages from 
sixty to seventy-five cents per week for families. Some of the operatives buy 
chickens from wagons, and prices vary from twenty to twenty-five cents for fry- 
ing size, depending, of course, upon the demand for chickens; eggs, from what 
I could understand, average 17 1-2 cents per dozen, and local butter was sold at 
twenty cents per pound. The grocery stores all report that cotton mill oper- 
atives are heavy buyers of canned goods, particularly canned meats, canned roast 
beef, canned pork, canned sausages, canned tripe, canned sliced dressed beef, 
canned blackberries, peaches and tomatoes. It was no uncommon thing for a mill 
store to buy as many as two hundred cases of canned tomatoes at one time. 

I find that a great deal of snuff and tobacco is sold in the various mill com- 
munities, and it is not an uncommon thing to see women use snuff. 

One of the bad things that I heard of was the too frequent use of drugs. The 
patent medicines are sold freely to operatives, but the ugliest phase is the amount 
of laudanum and opium that some of the operatives in this way manage to get 
hold of, and it would be very well if something could be done to restrict such 
sales. 

It might be well in closing this article, with reference to how the individual 
operative lives, to call attention to the -hours that they work. Under the present 
conditions they work sixty-two hours per week, and after the first of January 
they are to work sixty hours, which is a radical reduction in the number of hours; 
within the last year— prior to that time sixty-six hours being the weekly work. I 
find that most of the mills start at 6 o'clock, and after the sixty-hour law goes 
into effect they are going to start later in the morning, and that the time will be 
cut off by starting later. The hours of work in various parts of the State, selected 
as typical, at present are: 

Orangeburg— Begin at 6 o'clock, dinner 12 to 12 45, stop at 6 o'clock. Saturdays 
stop at 11.45. 

Newberry— Begin at 6, dinner 12 to 1, stop at 6.10. Saturdays 12.10. After Jan- 
uary 1st, begin at 6.20. 

Columbia Mills— Begin at 6 o'clock, dinner 12 to 1, stop 6.15. Saturdays 11.45. 

Greenville— Begin at 6 o'clock, dinner 12 to 1, stop 6.12. Saturdays 12 o'clock. 

Rock Hill— Begin at 6.10, dinner 12 to 1, stop 6.30. Saturdays 11.40. 

Piedmont— Begin 6.23 (this odd hour is on account of waiting for water to 
come down the river for the power plant,) dinner 12 to 1, stop 6.40. Saturday 12. 

Anderson Mills— Begin at 6.15, dinner 12 to 1, stop 6.30. Saturdays 12 o'clock. 

Pacolet— Begin at 6.25, dinner 12 to 1, stop 6.42. Saturdays 12 o'clock. 

The night run, where it is in force, varies. 

At Rock Hill the hours that are posted are: Start at 6.30, stop 12 o'clock. Start 
12.30, stop 6.10. There are a few mills in the State now running at night. 



ARTICLE X.— The Shortage of Labor. 

There is plenty of capital, energy, enthusiasm business ability, water power 
and cotton for South Carolina to have very many more spindles than she now 
has. The one difficulty is that of securing additional labor. Modern improve- 
ments have done much to economize labor, but even with all the modern de- 
vices it takes a great deal of labor and a great deal of expense incident to the 
labor to successfully operate a cotton mill. There are some people who believe 
that the mill presidents are too lenient and considerate of their help, and argue 
that too much consideration is likely to lead to spoiling. As a matter of fact, 
the executive officers of the mills are anxious for their help to be well pleased, 
to be satisfied and healthy; and they are also anxious— for purely selfish and 
other reasons— to have cotton bring a good price to maintain higher averages 
for their products, and the cotton mill presidents, while they want to buy their 
cotton as cheaply as possible, are always anxious for the price to be maintained; 
in other words, every cotton mill president would rather have cotton bring U 
cents or over, and have it stay at that price, than for it to bring 7 cents, and 
in that way give the jobbers the lever with which to force down prices on the 
manufactured goods. 

The development of the industry in this State has been out of proportion to 
the increase in other States and the demand for labor. Increased wages 
have not brought additional help, as might have been expected for this State, 
because, as every one knows, the farmers and the industrial population gen- 
erally have prospered equally. 

To show the development and the steady demand for labor this brief table, 
showing the average number of wage-earners in South Carolina cotton mills and 
v*>e total wages paid, will be interesting: 

Year. Wage Earners. Wages Paid. 

1850 1,019 

1860 891 $ 123,300 00 

1870 ...1,123 257,680 00 

1880 2,018 380,844 00 

1890 8,071 1,510,494 00 

1900 30,201 5,066,840 00 

1905 (average) .....37,271 7,701,689 00 

1905 (actual) 39,026 8,069,878 00 

1907 54,419 11.495,430 77 

These figures (1907) as to the annual pay rolls are incomplete, a number of 
the cotton mills failing to give me the figures. The complete returns would run 
the total for the pay rolls for 1907 easily up to $12,500,000.. The figures for all 
years, with the exception of 1907, are taken from the United States census re- 
ports, and those for 1907 are from the figures gathered by Commissioner E. J. 
Watson and myself. 

It will also be interesting in this same connection to know that, according 
to the United States census figures, out of the 39,026 employees reported in 1905 
to be actually engaged in the cotton mills in this State, 18,899 were men, 10,860 
were women, and 9,167 were children under 16 years. Out of this number South 
Carolina shows the highest percentage of any State in the Union of married 



61 

women in the cotton mills, the percentage for this State being 27 per cent of mar- 
ried women engaged in the cotton mill work, and the next highest percentage 
being in Massachusetts, where it is 18 per cent, and in North Carolina 15 per 
cent 

The more than twelve millions of dollars paid the help for labor almost en- 
tirely gets into circulation in this State. 

The rapid growth of spindles in this State and general prosperity have taxed 
the mills very much to get sufficient help, and the experiment of foreign labor 
is, for the present at least, in abeyance. As a matter of fact, practically all the 
help of five years ago, which was native, is still in the mill. It is estimated 
that not more than 10 per cent has left the mills to go on the farms, to become 
clerks, street railway conductors, motormen, to run stores or engage in other 
occupations. The remaining 90 per cent, it is thought, is constant in its allegi- 
ance to the mills, because of the money and the increase of wages. In the mills 
within the last few years there has been a steady and constant increase in the 
number of spindles. According to the recent statement of Commissioner Wat- 
son there are to-day in this State 3,687,985 active spindles, and two years ago 
there were 2,864,094; seven years ago there were 1,431,349 spindles. The detailed 
statement of spindles, as prepared from reports sent me, is given in another 
letter. 

If a farmer undertakes to till more acres of ground in one year than in pre- 
vious years more labor and more stock is necessary. If he doubles the acreage 
planted it is apparent that a great many more laborers must be had; and it is 
practically the same thing in the cotton mills. As I have said before, within 
the last two or three years from 3,500 to 3,700 workers have been brought into 
this State from North Carolina and Tennessee through the co-operation of the 
South Carolina Manufacturers' Association, and even with all of this outside help 
and the steadfastness of the native help there are not sufficient operatives in 
the mills to-day. There are probably enough workers in the various mill com- 
munities to man all of the machinery, but the great difficulty of to-day with the 
cotton mill labor is that it is not constant and will not work every day in the 
week, no matter what the inducements may be. Every cotton mill in this 
State recognizes that to have a full complement of labor in the mill each morn- 
ing, when the whistle blows for the work to begin, it is practically necessary 
to carry a surplusage of 20 to 25 per cent of "spare help." In some of the mill 
communities it is estimated that it does not require as much as 25 per cent; but 
all of the mill presidents seem to be quite willing to provide homes and to suffer 
the Inconvenience attendant in order to care for 25 per cent additional or spare 
help, so that every morning when the machinery begins to work there is a suffi- 



r 



cient quota of helpers to man every machine. The criterion of present day suc- 
cess in a superintendent seems largely to be In his ability to hold his help and 
to keep the maximum amount of machinery In operation. The most frequent 
questions that the mill president of to-day asks is, how many frames are being 
run on spinning, or how many weave machines are in operation? It is doubtful 
if any other occupations in this State would tolerate the absenteeism that is so 
frequent among cotton mill operatives, A clerk is expected to be in his place of 
business every morning, and to work more hours than do the average cotton 
mill operatives; a bank clerk is expected to be at his books every day when the 
bank opens; a school teacher is expected to attend her classes when the bell 
rings; but with cotton mill operatives it seems to be entirely different. Exactly 



62 

why this is no one seems to know, except that the operative is looked upon as 
so much of a prize that he can do things that others are not permitted to do, 
and yet suffer no censure nor loss of position. 

In Anderson I found that there was in the county as a whole about 15 per 
cent shortage in help. Some of the millss are running "full," but the average 
shortage for the county seems to be fully 15 per cent. In Spartanburg County it 
is perhaps as much. In some other localities it is more. In one of the cotton 
mills, for instance, I found that there were 740 looms; 535 of these looms were 
running and 255 were "dead;" not because the superintendent did not want 
them to run, but because the necessary help was not available. 

In another county I found a cotton mill with 2,300 looms, of which 500 were 
"dead." It is safe to say that, unless there is an improvement in the attendance 
of the operatives in the mills that it will take 15 per cent more help to man all 
of the machinery now installed in this State than was available on the 1st of 
September. The general impression, among the cotton mill men, is that a great 
deal of the help that went out for a summer vacation will return after the 
heated months. This is the usual custom, particularly with the operatives who 
come from the mountainous sections. The custom of going out of the mills for 
the summer months does not continue for more than two or three years; and then, 
in addition to these, quite a number of the operatives during the present year 
have undertaken farming operations and, after the crops are laid by, return to 
the cotton mills with their families. All of the cotton mills, without exception, 
carry what is known as "spare help." Some of them carry as little as 10 per 
cent, but the general purpose is to carry as much as 25 per cent of "spare help" 
to insure ample force. The usual rule is that 75 per cent of the mill operatives 
are regular, and that at least 25 per cent is more or less regular and is not to be 
depended upon when wanted. One cotton mill, that has a population of 2,500, 
figures that it is doing very well to have one-third of the help in the mill. The 
Graniteville Cotton Mill, which is particularly fortunate in keeping all of its 
machinery going, has a population of 2,W0, and out of this number 851 are on 
the pay roll. Mr Rennie, who is one of the best superintendents in the State, 
figures that it is necessary to carry from 20 to 25 per cent of spare help. 

On the other hand, another of the large mills in the upper part of the State 
finds that it has no spare help at all, and that it has 15 per cent of its machinery 
idle on that account, but it expects that conditions Will improve with the winter 
season. 

One of the cotton mill superintendents, in talking to me about the situation, 
said that it was really a pity that so many South Carolina operatives are so in- 
different to> their earning capacity, and that they are satisfied to work on an 
average of five days out of the seven. He said that the cotton mills in South Car- 
olina, as a matter of fact, were shorter of application than they were of help. 

In discussing the spirit of absenteeism I found that a great many of the 
cotton mill managers were more anxious to find some adequate remedy for this 
evil than other difficulties experienced. They seemed very well agreed that more 
money in itself does not attract the operatives to the mill. In fact, several of 
the mill presidents told me that when the wages were less than they now are the 
same help was more constant in its application than with the increased wages. 
Every one can see that this is unfortunate and something ought to be done In 
an intelligent way to get the help to see the advantage of constant work and 
saving money. 



63 

Several mill presidents think that if their operatives can be induced to buy- 
real estate or farms that it will be an incentive for them to save, and that to 
save they will have to work more constantly, and they are doing - everything 
within reason to encourage their help to buy their own homes or real estate, or 
invest in small farms if they do not care to start savings accounts, which are 
being encouraged and which have greatly increased in number. 

It amounts to a great deal for the cotton mills to have from 12 1-2 to 15 per 
cent of the help out of the mill, and the machinery that this help should run to 
stand idle. Each machine represents a considerable investment and then, in ad- 
dition to this, the mills are all losing 7 1-2 per cent possible production by the 
curtailment of the hours of labor in mills from sixty-six to sixty-two hours, 
and the percentage of loss in possible production will be increased still further 
in January when the work hours will be reduced to sixty hours. 

Here is a very good illustration of how considerable a loss is involved by 
absenteeism: In a cotton mill in upper Carolina that has forty-seven weavers, 
who ought to make 564 days in a pay period, the president, to induce the maxi- 
mum attendance of the weavers at their work, offered a premium for all who 
would report every day in the two weeks. In June there were 70 3-25 days lost 
out of the 564 that should have been worked. In August, with the same pre- 
mium system in force, 161 1-2 days were lost by the same help. This calculation 
does not account for the spare help that had to be used to fill in for the loss 
of time of the regular help. 

There are a great many reasons for this loss of time. At one of the mills I 
asked a weaver why he was out of the mill that day, and he explained it as sim- 
ple laziness. Others told me that they needed the rest. A great many, who 
have the inclination, go fishing, and a small proportion remained out of the mill 
on account of indisposition, but this is very inconsiderable. The greater pro- 
portion of those who remain out of the mills simply do so because they do not 
want to work every day in the week. 

Within the last few months the demand for labor has come from the rehabil- 
itation of Pacolet; the trebling of the spindles at Drayton; the adding of new 
spindles at Saxon; the building of a n v ew plant at Lockhart; the starting up of 
the Ware Shoals plant; the addition of machinery at Victor, and the starting of 
the new plant of the Jackson Mills at Iva and other additions. Calhoun Falls 
will be calling for help shortly, and so it goes on constantly. The newspapers 
from day to day announce the starting or building of new mills, and the cotton 
mill folks are beginning to ask themselves where in the world the help is to 
pom e from. But with it all there seems to be no temerity in starting new cotton 
mill enterprises. The sole question in starting new cotton mills should be: Can 
the necessary labor be secured? The margin of profits, while good in a well man- 
aged property, is not as great as in former days. 

Several of the cotton mills undertook to raise wages just before the summer 
season, in the hope of holding their help during that time, but it does not ap- 
pear to have brought the desired results. In this connection one cotton mill 
president called my attention to the fact that several years ago two-thirds of the 
help in his mill were females, whereas now two-thirds are males, and that the 
men are making sufficient money to allow them to leave the women at home, 
•and particularly the younger children. 

In former days the operatives were not in as much demand as they are now 
and most of the mills had more help than they could provide work for. It was 



64 

not at all uncommon for a mill to have a waiting list, and to have no possible use 
for labor until vacancies occurred from death or removal. At that time there 
was, it is said, more discipline among the labor and steadier work, because of 
much smaller pay, and also from the fact that it was generally known that there 
were others waiting for their jobs. At one of the yarn mills in former days the 
gate, which enclosed the mill property, was locked each morning a few minutes 
after the whistle blew for work to begin, and if operatives were not on hand 
before the closing of the gate they could not get in at all for the day. Things 
are very different now at that same mill. 

The situation in New England, with respect to continuous work, is very differ- 
ent from conditions here. One of the mill presidents has sent his superintendent 
to New England to get ideas relative to keeping labor more constantly in the 
mill, and he is sending operatives there to have them see for themselves what 
the comparative conditions are, and to emphasize the fact that the New Eng- 
land operative works every day in the week and would like to work extra days 
if there were any. 

One of the most conservative writers on cotton mill conditions from the New 
England States is Mr Charles F. Pidgin, who was formerly chief of the Massa- 
chusetts bureau of statistics of labor. n his last report he says: "The same 
ambition to earn money is not in evidence among the operatives of this com- 
munity (Carolina) that is found among the operatives of Massachusetts. Realiz- 
ing the lack of energy, ambition and ability of mill help in this district many de- 
vices have been resorted to by some of the mill officials to educate and improve 
them in this respect." 

In addition to the same continuous work on the part of the New England 
operative, it is said that they get better results, that they keep their machinery 
cleaner, that they can run more machines and that, as a matter of fact, the 
New England operative gets production for less per pound. The South is said 
to have very many advantages over the New England manufacturers, but, 
strange as it may seem, one of the chief of these advantages is that it has 
more modern and newer machinery and that the mill presidents spend their 
money more freely in buying new machinery than do those of the New England 
States. 

It is the rarest thing in the world for a cotton mill in this State to discipline 
its help, that is, for any considerable number of the help to be made to leave 
a community for infraction of rules, or for not reporting regularly for duty. In- 
cidentally it might be said that keeping the moral tone up to a good standard 
is responsible for more removals from mill communities than one would suppose, 
and that the operatives themselves, as a class, will not tolerate any infraction 
of a moral character. 

Of course, the labor-saving machines have done a great deal to relieve the] 
situation. In the spinning room the output is increased by the increased number 
of revolutions from 5,500 to almost twice that speed. Then the hand-knotter has 
saved a great deal of labor, as within the last few years the Barber-Coleman 
machine has saved a great deal of labor in the tieing-in room. With the assist- 
ance of one of these machines, which costs about $5,500, two or three people 
can do the work that was formerly done by ten times as many. Then the auto- 
matic looms have worked wonders in libor saving. Where the average num- 
ber of looms operated in former years was six, it is now easily sixteen looms to 
the operator. The automatic feeder has saved labor. The introduction of the 



65 

English revolving flat-top card machines has saved help, and even so little a 
thing as the automatic band-making machine has saved a little labor; and so 
the skilled mechanic is year by year helping to solve the problems of the cotton 
mill so far as labor goes. 

The improved machinery has made it possible, for instance, at Tucapau, for 
one man, with the assistance of a child, to fill the batteries to run as many as 
forty Draper looms and, by the way, weavers are the most plentiful class of 
help, generally speaking. In some of the mills where help is plentiful the weav- 
ers are restricted to ten looms. 

The worst help conditions are in the past, but they are very much better than 
they were twelve months ago. This is because there are more people going to 
the mills, and because some who have left the mills to go to the farms or the 
country are returning; and, altogether, the cotton mills are better satisfied with 
the labor conditions than they have been for some time, and that perhaps ac- 
counts for the abandonment temporarily of the effort to bring foreign mill 
laborers into this State. 

If one were to believe some of the articles O f f the sensational writers they 
would think that the cotton mills of South Carolina grind the life out of the 
operatives, and that it is no uncommon thing for an operative on a "night run" 
to have his or her teeth shaken out by some irate superintendent. As a mat- 
ter of fact, there are very few cotton mills in this State that run at night. 
None of the big mills, such as those in Spartanburg, Greenville, Anderson, Co- 
lumbia, Lancaster or the Horse Creek Valley section, run at night. It is not for 
me to say whether they would run at night or not, but they do not run, and 
there is no use for sensational writers to picture horrible stories of night work, 
when, as a matter of fact, if the mills Wanted to run at night they could notdo 
so on account of the lack of labor. These few mills that do run at night pay the 
help from 10 to 20 per cent more for night work than day work, and even for 
this additional inducement they are unable to get any considerable amount of 
night help. 

Within the last few weeks the Inman Cotton Mill, in Spartanburg County, 
has started to run part of its machinery at night. The Highland Park Mill is 
running some of its spinning at night, and pays for this 20 cents per side. In 
that way a young man or woman can readily run ten sides and earn $2 for a 
night's work, but the difficulty is to get the labor to do it. The Dillon Mills and 
the companion, Maple Mills, in Marion County, do some spinning at night. The 
Marlboro Cotton Mills, at McColl, have six plants, and the best that they can 
do for night work is to run part of the spinning in the Iceman Mill, one of its 
plants, at night. They do no carding and no warping or spooling, but simply un- 
dertake to run some of their spinning machinery at night. Tucapau Mills and 
several other of the more successful large mills in the State at one time under- 
took night work, to "balance" up the machinery, but there are to-day not more 
than half a dozen mills in South Carolina— and they are all small— that do any 
night work, and if they could they would abandon it, as it seems to be general- 
ly regarded as a losing proposition to undertake night work. The Inman Cotton 
Mill pays 15 cents per side for its night spinning. 

The sentiment among the cotton mills is decidedly against the introduction of 
night work. As in most of the reforms that have been accomplished, time has 
worked out these reformations, and there has been, and is, no occasion for radi- 
cal legislation to bring about that which the mill officials do of their own accord 
as conditions permit. 



66 

Not only is the labor getting more pay and better accommodations, but they 
are having all sorts of little things done for them to expedite their work and to 
save them trouble and work. In former years the operatives were expected to 
clean their own weave machines. At present quite a number of the mills have 
installed a compressed air-cleaning apparatus, by which all of the lint and dirt 
is blown from the machine. At quite a number of the mills, notably those at 
Newberry, the operatives are given a week's holiday annually, and at very many 
other mills successful picnics are given. At Saxon Mills, for instance, President 
Law at first undertook the management of this diversion himself, but the ope- 
ratives are now managing their own picnics. In Columbia, by way of illustra- 
tion, the cotton mills have a variety of holidays, including the Fourth of July, 
Labor Day, one day in Fair week and the usual, Christmas holidays are en- 
joyed by all of the mills. 

The cotton mills even provide for their operatives everything that they might 
want to buy. Though some people entertain the idea that mill stores are in- 
tended for profit, the fact of the matter is that there are very few, if any, 
cotton mills that have ever made anything out of what is known as the com- 
pany store. The operatives themselves are just as "keen" to make a good trade 
as any one else, and if the company stores do not sell goods as cheaply and 
as good as any others they Will not get the patronage of the operatives; conse- 
quently the company stores have to buy the very best of goods because the op- 
eratives will not wear anything but the best of clothes, nor will they eat any- 
thing but the best eatables, and the prices have to be on a parity with other 
places. The tendency, as I find it, is for the mill corporation to lease or sub- 
rent the company stores. They want the stores in or near the villages for the 
accommodation of the help, but in nine out of ten cases they prefer to be re- 
lieved of the responsibility connected with mill stores. There are still a num- 
ber of company stores in the State, but I find that they are run for the accom- 
modation of the help. 

In some places the credit of the mill operatives is hot the very best and they 
find it difficult to get credit; on that account the company stores are of advan- 
tage where the operatives are without surplus. At Pelzer and Graniteville, for 
instance, and these mills about set the pace for a great many others, the store 
buildings are all rented to those who wish to engage in business. At some of 
the mill villages the mills have absolutely no interest in the stores, and do not 
recognize any claim against the pay certificate. At other mills the accounts are 
in a way guaranteed by the mill and the store account is charged against the 
wages earned during two weeks. 

The general tendency of the cotton mills is to own plenty of land. This was 
started by the Graniteville Mills, which owns about 13,000 acres of land, to com- 
mand the lands adjacent to its water rights. The cotton mill of to-day gener- 
ally strives to get out of the city limits for a variety of reasons, and particular- 
ly so that it can have elbow room and plenty of ground for the building of 
homes for the operatives, without crowding them in the least; to provide ample 
vegetable and flower gardens free of cost, supply pasturage and a park or two, 
and still have ground left to rent to operatives for small truck farms, and per- 
haps in time to provide additional cottages should the mill expand and increase 
its capacity and, incidentally, to save city taxes. August Kohn. 



ARTICLE XL -Thrift Among the Operatives. 

There has been a very general impassion, entirely without foundation, that the 
cotton mill operatives, as a class, live from hand to mouth. This is an error of 
fact and an injustice. So far as I xnow, there are no more contented people in 
the State. Altogether there are at least 125,000 people directly dependent upon 
the cotton mills for their livelihood, and I do not know of any class of workers, 
of the same number, who are so thoroughly satisfied, who live as well, who dress 
as neatly and who have as many comforts proportionate upon their skill. 

As a rule people in this State spend most of the money they make. It is the 
same with the farmer, the clerk or the artisan. The proportion of those who 
save any considerable amount out of their earnings is inconsiderable. The pro- 
portion of those who save is about the same in the cotton mills as it is with 
the average wage earner. Human nature is the same the world o'er. In some of 
the cotton mills there are many who receive good wages who save nothing; and, 
oh the other hand, there are men who, on a very inconsiderable salary, have 
saved considerable sums. It is not so much in the amount of wages as it is in the 
disposition to save. As I have already stated, there is a general desire on the part 
of the cotton mills to have their operatives save money, because they are satis- 
fied that this is the best way to secure that phase of ambition that will lead to 
constant work and daily application. 

As I have previously stated, 't was impracticable for me to visit every cotton 
mill in the State; and, even if I had done so, the data would have been unwieldy 
and practically duplicated for the various mills. The conditions do not vary 
very much at the scattered mills, and if proper inquiry be made at twenty- 
five typical mills, in different parts of the State, the same conditions will be found 
to be true at the other mills; just as if a careful investigation should be made 
oi twenty-five typical farms in a county, the same general conditions would 
apply to the other farms of the same class in that county. For instance, in 
Union I found that there were at least fifty families that had bought farms out of 
their earnings. In addition to this a great many of the operatives have bank 
accounts in the various banking institutions of the town; some of the help save 
as much as one-half of their wages, while others spend more than their wages 
and are in debt. 

At Lancaster there is a considerable amount saved out of each pay roli, 
which goes into lands and into the various banks; while, on the other hand, a 
considerable number are making more money than they care to spend, and loaf, 
so as not to earn the surplus. There are so many cotton mills centred in about 
Anderson, Spartanburg and Greenville that the banking institutions there find it 
to their advantage to "drum" for savings accounts, and there are hundreds of 
savings accounts in the various banks of these progressive communities in the 
names of cotton mill operatives. 

At the Mollohan Cotton Mill I found one man who, on a salary of $1 75 per 
clay, had a credit of $1,200. At the Piedmont Cotton Mill Mr John Kernels, who 
is employed in the picker department— making $1 a day— has to Ms credit from 
two thousand to three thousand dollars. I had intended to write a chapter under 
the head of "satisfied help," but the fact of the matter is that my folder on this 
subject has gotten to be so large that all I can do is to give a few typical illus- 
trations. 



68 

The idea now in all of the cotton mills, which I want to accentuate, is to 
inculcate the saving habit. To begin with, at Pelzer, which, by the way, is pri- 
marily a mill community, there is the Chicora Savings Bank. The last state- 
ment of this bank showed deposits aggregating $156,648 55; of this amount 3100,000 
is responsive to the deposit of operatives. Mr Hudgens, the cashier of the bank, 
told me that there were sixteen hundred mill operatives who were depositors, 
and, while, of course, most of the deposits were of small amounts, that there 
were a number who had deposits of §1,000, and that one account aggregated $3,400. 
His observation was that the largest number of depositors proportionately came 
from those who received small wages, and, as a general rule, those earning the 
largest pay were not generally the heaviest depositors. At Piedmont Cotton Mills 
there are two systems of placing money on deposit— one with the mill proper and 
the other with the bank in town. The savings accounts in the Bank of Piedmont 
amounted to $18,000, and were distributed among one hundred and seventy-five 
depositors, according to the statement of the cashier. In addition to this there 
were sixty depositors who had their money with the Piedmont Manufacturing 
Company. The deposits with the mill corporation aggregated $16,330 51 on the day 
of my visit, being an average of $272 17. The Piedmont Mills pay 6 per cent to the 
operatives on their deposits and give them a demand note. This system of de- 
positing with the cotton mills is in vogue in the older mills. The Newberry Cot- 
ton Mill, for instance, has $25,000 on deposit, on which it pays 6 per cent to its 
operatives. The Anderson Cotton Mill has a considerable sum on deposit from its 
operatives, on which it also pays 6 per cent; and this custom is generally In use. 
In the town of Graniteville the operatives themselves, together with those con- 
nected with the corporation, have established the Bank of Graniteville, which is 
in a very flourishing condition. This bank has $140,672 on deposit, of which 
amount $119,000 is subject to the check of those connected wit h the Graniteville 
Cotton Mill, and 75 per cent of the twelve hundred depositors of this bank are 
operatives connected with the mills. Fourteen of the operatives at the Graniteville 
Mills own more or less of the stock, and others of the number are seeking to 
make further investments., in this bank stock. Several other mill communities have 
their banks. In several of the mill communities that I visited I understood that 
there was some aversion on the part of the operatives to deposit their money in 
banks, because they were fearful that the "bosses" would know that they were 
saving money, and they seemed to have an idea that the bosses would be preju- 
diced against them if they knew that they were saving money. On the contrary, 
the bosses and the executive officers like to encourage this habit. 

Away off in Fort Mill, very near the border of North Carolina, Capt S. B. 
White, who is the father-in-law of Mr LeRoy Springs, has been doing a great work 
for the operatives of the mills, of which he is the head. Some years ago he en- 
couraged the operatives to build and own their own homes, and he started a 
building and loan association among his operatives, the chief purpose of which 
was to encourage the operatives to buy property and build homes, either for 
themselves or for rent. The idea has grown, and to-day more than fifty operatives 
in this little community own property as the result of this monthly instalment 
system inaugurated by Capt White, and other mills are adopting the same policy. 
At the Brandon Cotton Mills the bank has a capitalization of $5,000, most of the 
stock being owned by the operatives themselves; and, although this mill has not 
been in operation many years, the deposits now aggregate over $9,000; interest is 
paid at the rate of 4 per cent. 



69 

At some of the mills, such as Woodruff and Whitney, where there are no banks 
connected with the mills, the custom among- the operatives seems to be to deposit 
the money with the mill, drawing interest. At Whitney there are about four 
hundred depositors, who have money subject to call and drawing interest, with 
the mill corporation; and President John B. Cleveland is constantly impressing 1 
upon his operatives the importance of their saving money and becoming independ- 
ent. It is stated that there will be a savings bank started in the vicinity of the 
cotton mills of Columbia, which are in -he suburbs of this community. 

On the subject of real estate holdings by the operatives a great deal can be 
written; a great deal more than I am inclined to think would be read, but still I 
am impressed with the increasing tendency of the mill operatives to buy real 
estate, both in the country districts and in the towns. The fact of the matter 
is that there is almost a "craze" throughout the State for investments in real 
estate, and this has extended to the operatives. 

The mill operatives, as a class, are not supposed to save money, but as a very 
direct illustration, I want to give in full a letter received from Mr Hollis, who 
is secretary of the Toung Men's Christian Association at the Monaghan Cotton 
Mills, which is one of the newer enterprises in this State. It reads as follows: 

"I find that fifty-seven operatives of the Monaghan Mills own real estate. It 
consists of three farms; thirty-seven men owning fifty-one lots, suitable for 
building houses on them, and eighteen lots, with houses already erected on tham 
and occupied. The owners value this property at something like $42,000. All of it 
has not yet been paid for, but the majority has. There are others who own prop- 
erty, but I have no way of finding them out. I have the names of all these parties, 
and can give them to you with the values if you desire. All of the property, with 
the exception of the three farms and a few lots, are on the outskirts of Monaghan 
village." 

At Graniteville, which is one of the elder cotton mill communities, in an off- 
hand way Mr Giles, the secretary of the company, gave me this list of property- 
holders, who had earned the money with which to purchase real estate through 
the mills: W. H. Cursey, Marion Brewer, Mrs Ready, Mrs Martin, Mrs Collins, 
James E. Cursey, William Bargeron, W. D. Weatherbee, Mrs Augusta Pardue, 
Laurence Ergle, C. P. Beaufort, John A. Timmerman, Jas Williams, Mrs A. C. 
Powell, Mrs Prince, Mrs Napier, John Hester, James Bryant, F. P. Powell, Benj 
Busbee, W. E. Arthur, Mrs Stanley, J. M. McMillan, T. Franklin, Mrs Timmer- 
man, Mrs Minnie Parkman and others. 

At the Piedmont Cotton Mills, in talking with one of the best informed con- 
nected with the property, I found that quite a number of the operatives had accu- 
mulated money, and that they had invested it in real estate, cotton mill stocks and 
some of it in the bank. Among those who were mentioned in this connection and 
their savings were estimated at: 

Mr Cobb $ 4,000 

Mr Gresham 2,000 

Mr Duncan 2,000 

Mr Doggett 3,000 

Mr Brissey 1,500 

Mr L. Brown 2,000 

Mr Henry Spence 2,000 

Mr Lindley 1,500 

Mr C. S. Crawford 4,000 



70 

Mr John Hill 5,000 

Mr John Eskew 10,000 

Mr C. Roberts 5,000 

Mr H. Stone . 3,000 

Mr o. Middleton 5,000 

Mr J. Elrod 8,000 

Mr J. Kernels 5,000 

Mr T. Osteen 3,000 

Mr A. McColl 4,000 

Mr J. Cooper 10,000 

Mr Tom Elrod 10,000 

Within the last few months Mr Gresham has bought a house and lot, and Mr 
Lindley has added thirty or forty acres of choice lands to his possessions. At 
Union, for instance, I found that there were quite a number of operatives who had 
saved money, out of which they could buy real estate, and among these investors 
were: Mr A. D. Rinehart, who had bought a farm in Western North Carolina, 
and who continued working in the mill. 

The two Bishop families had bought lands and had moved from the mill to 
lands bought out of their earnings. The Chambers family had bought a consid- 
erable farm. Mr M. E. Smith bought a good-size farm in Union County; and Mr 
W. F. Sumner went to the Union-Buffalo Mills when they started, and has 
out of his earnings bought a farm, for which he refused $1,200 recently. Mr H. S. 
Sumner bought farms out of his earnings, and is working in the mill to get 
additional property. Mr Ed Pruett, through the work of his family, has accumu- 
lated $5,000 worth of real estate, and in addition has paid mortgages with money 
made in the mills. Mr Burriss has bought a plantation near Rutherfordton, N. 
C; and so the story goes. Mr Aug W. Smith, president of the Woodruff Cotton 
Mills, in a conversation told me he could recall from twenty-five to fifty of his 
operatives who had bought real estate out of their earnings, but I soon found that 
such a list would go on ad infinitum. All of this goes to show that the operatives 
are not as bad off as some people would suppose. 

At Chiquola I found that within the last few years — and this mill is compara- 
tively new— among the real estate investors are: Mr Lollis, who has bought a 
neat home; Mr Chas Wood, who has invested in a home; Budd Taft, who is a 
considerable property owner; Mr W. A. Wheat, who has bought a house; Mr Gus 
Davis, Mr R. J. Saylot and Mr Preston Bates have bought farms, and Mr 
Matterson and Mr Gambrell have bought houses. Mr R. E. James has bought 
property, on which he has erected a store and barber shop. 

In a casual conversation with Mr Perrin, who came from Georgia to the Orr 
Cotton Mills with his family, he told me he was buying farm lands in Georgia 
out of his earnings in the cotton mill, and that there were others who were doing 
the same — among the most successful in investing in lands being Mr Turner, 
who has accumulated considerable real estate, and who continues with his family 
to work in the Orr Mills. I find that there was a community of mill operatives 
who own land on Spring street and Bleckley street, in Anderson, not counting 
those who own lands in large tracts, and they were willing to pay as much as 
$50 an acre to get lands anywhere within a reasonable distance of Anderson city. 
At Newberry I found that Mr Paul Wertz 'had bought two places and had paid 
off a mortgage on another, and that among the operatives who own real estate 
were: Messrs Davis, Bedenbaugh, WJlliams, Hudson, Thornton, Sanders and 
McDowell. 



71 

At Saxon Mills I found quite a number of the operatives had invested in 
property around the town, and that they were very much pleased with their in- 
vestments. 

In the town of Rock Hill there are a number of prosperous cotton mill 
operatives, and the instalment plan of buying- real estate there has been adopted 
by a great many of the mill people. Mr Fewell has recently co-operated with 
several of his employees in the purchasing of cottages, for which they paid from 
one to two thousand dollars. At Pacolet there are quite a number of consider- 
able property holders in the way of farm lands and cotton mill stocks. In fact 
I understood that the operatives and others connected with this mill had a con- 
siderable block in another enterprise in addition to the stock-holdings in the Pacolet 
Mill property. Among those who own real estate at Pacolet, who made their 
money at the mill, and are mentioned as foremost, are: John Reid, E. Cook, J. 
Eennett, John Hoppis, W. A. Wofford, Jerry Matthews, J. A. "Wofford and others. 
At Anderson a number of operatives are acquiring property, and the operatives 
find their greatest difficulty in getting desirable property. The day I visited An- 
derson there were two operatives in a mill office trying to buy some of the lands 
near one of the cotton mill corporations, not in use for mill purposes. 

At Pelzer a great many of the operatives are property owners, and one case 
in particular attracted my attention, where a rather elderly woman had charge 
of the family finances, and during the week that I was there had bought a farm, 
on which she paid $800 cash out of the earnings of her daughters. The farm is 
about three miles from Pelzer. But these cases are growing with such frequency 
with the mill operatives that they do not longer think very much of them, but do 
everything within their means to 3ncourage the idea of the operatives becoming 
land owners— it encourages thi-ift. As I said, I wanted to write an article, or per- 
haps several of them, on the subject of "satisfied help," but there are so many 
of them, and I got so many interviews that it is impracticable to include many. 

At the Chiquola Mills I talked to Mr Lollis. Before he went to the cotto:i 
mills he had a place of about thirty acres, which he received from his father's 
estate, near Williamston. He has been working at the Chiquola Mill for about 
five years, and altogether has been engaged in mill work for nearly eleven years. 
He told me that as a "general run" he thought the families got along very 
much better in the mills than on the farms, that they had conveniences nearer at 
hand, that the doctors were within easy call, and that his observation was that 
where a family once went to the ootton mills and left, they were "mighty apt" 
to come back. Personally he had never left the mill after he once started there. 
His idea was that in the cotton mill the people were out of the cold, that they 
were under shelter, rain or shine, that they were close to and had the best of 
school facilities, that the churches were "handy," that it was not far to go to 
the mills, and that the meals were eaten at regular hours, and that work was 
started and stopped at regular intervals, and that, so far as he had observed, 
the men who were over the operatives were kindly disposed, and that there was 
not the slightest occasion for dissatisfa2tion or friction, and what was a particu- 
lar inducement was that their wages were paid every two weeks without any 
questions being asked. Since he has been at the cotton mills he said he had given 
his children good educations, that they had attended church regularly, that 
they were, he thought, well fed and well dressed, and that he had bought a nice 
home and other property, and that, while on the farm, he made "just a bare 
living," and was behind-hand part of he time. Several of his daughters are 



72 

taking music lessons at night. Mr LioJiis's family is a very good illustration o£ 
the tendency of the cotton mills to keep good help as far as possible in the 
spinning room. All of the members of his family are in some part of the spinning 
department. He is himself in the spool room; his wife does not work in the 
mill; his son, Ed, is at Belton; his daughters, Jena, May and Stella, are in the 
spooling room; Lillie and Burse are in the spinning room, and Ella, who is "going 
on thirteen," is in the spinnig room. Guy, Ula and Pearl are too young to work 
in the mill, the oldest of the three being Pearl, who is 10 years of age. The 
family draws more than $160 each month. 

Then, again, there are such families as the Dillards, at Whitney, who went 
to the cotton mills because of not succeeding on the farms, and they nave done 
remarkably well for their children. Such folks are very much to be commended 
because of their energy and ambition, and there are hundreds and hundreds of 
families of the same type who have gone through the same experiences as the 
Dillards. The family consisted of four daughters, all of whom have married 
well. One of them married a successful mill superintendent, and to-day Mrs 
Dillard is the owner of a farm immediately adjacent to the property of Mr John 
B. Cleveland, who is the \ president of the Whitney Mills. Of course what one 
such family can do others could have done and have done. 

In going through the cotton mills one is impressed with the neatness and 
good appearance of the help, and, while I expect to write of the health of the 
help in a subsequent article, I was impressed with the neatness and the striking 
appearance of a great many of the young women in the mills. At Newberry 
Cotton Mills, for instance, I saw two young women, who, if they were taken out 
of the mill and put in a beauty contest with other women of this State, would 
be very likely to come in for one of the prizes. 

At Pacolet, for instance, I saw a great many robust, well-groomed youog 
women, and if this article were to be illustrated, I should like to present a picture 
of Miss Amelia Meyers, with her prettily braided hair and her plaid dress, and, 
if possible, I should like to have the photograph bring out the tortoise shell combs 
that she wore. The man who thinks that there are not just as good-looking 
women in the cotton mills as there are anywhere else in America is sadly mis- 
taken. 

It is not at all an unusual thing to go to a cotton mill community and find 
help there who have been connected with the enterprise since the "first wheel 
turned." At Newberry, for instance, Mr R. Y. Johnston has been in the com 
munity for fifteen years; Mr Abrams has been there for eight or ten years; Mr 
Tom Sanders has been there for an equal length of time; Mr W. J. Smith has 
been there for eighteen years; Mr Wylie Koon for twenty -three years, and Mr 
J. C. Rhoden has been there for about as long. He is now a man of 80 years of 
age, and works when he is able. The White family has been at the mill since it 
started, but conditions like this can be found at almost any mill in the State. 

When I was going out of the office at Pelzer I had a talk with the watchman, 
who has his family at Pelzer. He has been there for twenty-one years, and in 
talking to me about leaving the place, ne said that "he 'lowed he would stay and 
not have to come back," as most of the others had done who had felt there. 

While at Monaghan I went to the home of Mrs F. A. Nunnally, with whom I 
had a very pleasant talk for about a half hour, and in this conversation she went 
over the advantages of living in the mill community as compared with conditions 
of the farm; at least such as hers. In the room in which I sat there was a sewing 



73 

machine, an eight-day clock, three colored pictures, a plush sofa, two rockers 
two chairs, two fancy baskets, three floor rugs; the windows were decorated with 
white curtains; there was a large family Bible on the centre table, and the room 
had every appearance of tidiness. Mrs Nunnally told me: "I used to think it was 
the awfullest thing in the world to live in a cotton mill village." She is now thor- 
oughly of the opinion that for a family such as hers the very best thing in the 
world is for them to have gone to a cotton mill, and to have economized and 
saved money. Mrs Nunnally indicated that she had saved some money, and that 
8he made it a practice to put money in bank herself. Everything about the 
place looked neat and clean, and Mrs Nunnally seemed to be a woman of good 
judgment and devoted to her family. 

At Pelzer I talked to Mrs Gosnell, who seems to be a very sensible woman, and 
to have reared her family with success. There were .several young ladies pres- 
ent at the interview, and the consensus of opinion was that they would rather 
work in the mill at twenty-five cents a day than to work on the farm. While I 
was talking with Mrs Gosnell I found that there was a disposition on the part of 
the children themselves to go into the mills. One of the little fellows who was 
there told me that he was 10 years old, and he seemed to be "aching" to get into 
the cotton mill. Mrs Gosnell told me her family was making about $50 each pay 
day and was getting along very well, and would not for an instant consider the 
proposition of leaving the mill to ?o to the farm. 

The Gosnell family is a well-known family, in the mountain section of 
Greenville. 

At Hamer I found several families, such as the Briggmans, Jacksons and 
Arnetts, who owned farm lands in the vicinity, and who preferred to live in the 
cotton mill and rented their farms to tenants. It may be interesting to know that 
the cotton mill operative is noc without ambition. There were a number of 
operatives this summer who were working in the mills to earn money with whi ih 
to go to college this winter. At ' Pacoiet I talked to a young man who had 
been at Furman University and expected to continue his course there. At the 
Saxon Mills I talked to a young man who had made enough money to attend 
Wofford College, and expected to continue his course there. At Pacoiet there 
was a young lady who has been, and is, continuing to attend Limestone College. 
The Rev Mr Weltner, who is doing such a great work at the Olympia Cotton 
Mill, told me of several boys who were ambitious to go to college, and one in par- 
ticular who he expected to be able to send there in a short while; out these 
cases are growing to be more common every day. I was talking with some of the 
operatives about men who had succeeded from among their ranks, and they 
spoke to me of such cases as that of Joe Garrison and Mr E. McGuinn,* both of 
Clifton. They both started on practically nothing and accumulated considerable 
fortunes. Garrison went to Clifton from Linder's Ford, in North Carolina, as a 
day laborer and worked in the rock quarry at seventy-five cents a day. It was 
not long before he became overseer in the mill, earning $3 a day, and all of his 
children, who went to the mills as "green help," soon became proficient and 
earned good pay. Garrison, by his industry and perseverance, saved money to 
buy a farm, near the second Clifton Mill, then invested in two dray horses and 
constantly added to his resources. McGuinn started at the Clifton Mill as a weaver 
at sixty cents a day, and went right on "up the ladder," and had the reputation 
of driving the best pair of horses at Clifton. He invested in real estate, and inci- 
dentally gained in avoirdupois and general health. 



74 

It may be very well to note that these alleged oppressed cotton mill operatives 
are very good buyers of automobiles. In one of the cotton mill communities 
I found that the operatives owned seven automobiles. They had not all been 
purchased as new machines, but the operatives, having more or less mechanical 
skill, had gone to the neighboring cities and bought second-hand machines, 
which they had overhauled and gotten in good running order. 

In some of the cotton mill communities the finest driving horses are those 
owned by mill operatives. 

One could spend a week in any one mill community getting at the inside life 
of the help, and write almost a book on the experiences of a single community. 
Piedmont has jone of the most interesting of these* stories, and in a subsequent 
letter I expect to say something of the school of superintendents that has been 
growing there; but just at this time I want to say something of those who are 
not superintendents. 

The Chandler family, for instance, uas been working at the mill since it started. 
Some of them went into the mill earning as little as forty cents a day. On the 
day that I went through the mill Miss Maggie T. Chandler, who has a bank 
account of $1,277 42, and Miss Emma Chandler, who has a bank account of 
$1,?<?4 11, were regularly at their work. Over in another department was Mr W. 
H. Cobb, who started in the mill as a boy, and is now making $3 75 a day, and has 
$1,200 in the savings department, in addition to his other investments, and was 
regularly at his work. And so were dozens of others. Mr Samuel T. Buchanan, 
who had been in the Piedmont Cotton Mills for twenty-six years, told me of 
dozens of families that have been at the mill since he went there. The Middle- 
tons, and the Browns, and the Waldrops, and Massingales, and the Roberts, and 
the McElreatts, the Thompsons, and the Walkers, and the Kellars, and the 
Cobbs, and the Rosses, and the Chandlers, all have been at the mill since he went 
there. Some of their families have wandered off to other cotton mills, but por- 
tions of each of these families, and sometimes all of them, still were faithful to 
Piedmont. 

In passing it may be noted that with the Thompson family, which I have 
just mentioned, there are three generations in the mill at the same time. This 
is no uncommon thing, and it is particularly emphasized at Graniteville and other 
of the older mills, where such a condition is possible. The point is that these 
people have worked continuously during three generations in the cotton mills. 

In closing this article I want to say that the tendency in previous years 
has always been for the families that have large numbers of girls to go to the 
cotton mills, and until recently the greater portion of operatives were women. The 
increase of pay and the increased prosperity on the part of the operatives has 
somewhat changed this condition, permitting the women to cease work away from 
home. 



ARTICLE XII.— Health of the Help. 

The greatest concern of our own people ought to be the health conditions of 
the mill operatives. I have read a number of articles, that are freely quoted in 
Senator Beveridge's recent speech before the United States Senate, on the subject 
of child labor, that make me believe that there is even a more general misunder- 
standing, or perhaps it is misrepresentation, of the health conditions that ^xist 
in the Southern cotton mill communities than of any other phase of our indus- 
trial life. All sorts of pictures have been drawn, showing the brutal cotton mill 
superintendent going through the mill and kicking the operatives into activity, 
and how buckets of water are thrown at sleeping operatives to wake them up. 
The people of South Carolina need not be told that this is arrant nonsense, because 
they know that their own kith and kin will not submit to anything of the kind. 
The fact of the matter is that there could be no more kindly or considerate 
treatment given to any class of people than is accorded the help in the cotton 
mills. The successful mill superintendent to-day is the man who holds his help. 
And the man who can hold help and get the maximum results is the man who 
draws the highest salary. He who undertakes to be brutal or even harsh cannot 
hold his help. That is a very plain and a very manifest situation. The mill 
help in South Carolina is entirely too independent to be harshly treated, and cer- 
tainly too much in demand to be imposed upon. 

As I have already said, the worst feature of cotton mill work is that of indoor 
labor. It is perhaps not as hard as standing up all day behind a counter, but it 
is a tax upon any one to remain indoors for as much as ten hours a day, and, 
whatever might be charged to the cotton mills, that, and that alone, is the worst 
feature of the work; and there is no way out of it, because the work has to be 
done, and it is done under as favorable circumstances as is possible. 

In fact, if you go through an up-to-date mill to-day "ou will find on the 
hundreds of rows of the weave room seats on all ends of the new Draper looms, 
and it is not at all an uncommon thing to see folks in any of the departments 
sitting down; and there is no aversion on the part of mill bosses to see their help 
sitting down, because they then know that everything is running smoothly. 

But the cotton mill operative, as I have previously pointed out, is not constant 
in his work. In fact it is regarded as very satisfactory to have as many as 87 
per cent of the help continuously at work. Five years ago, when I wrote about 
the cotton mills, there was "much ado" about the alleged pallor of a great 
many of the workers in our cotton mills. Writers away from here still emphasize 
this condition among mill operatives. There are still to-day a great many of these 
pallid people in the cotton mills. I want to write in GREAT BIG LETTERS 
that the pallor found among cotton mill operatives is not due to the fact that 
they work in the cotton mills. On the contrary, you will find many a family that 
has been in the mills for a number of years, and that went there with many of • 
its members pallid and languid, to-day with little or no pallor, healthier and 
stronger than ever before. Five years ago I wrote this paragraph in my letter 
to The News and Courier: 

"Over in Lancaster I talked with Mr Springs on the subject, and he told me 
that the pale, saffron-colored operatives of his mill came there that way, and 
he would make me a wager that he could tell exactly where every one in the mill 



76 

came from. We went to the mill at the noon hour, and every child that went 
in we stopped. Those who were rosy-colored and bright-looking generally came 
from Lancaster County and from prosperous farms, and, without even asking the 
children where they came from, he recognized those with the pale, yellow skins 
that they came from Eastern Lancaster and Chesterfield County, and* this com- 
plexion seemed to be quite common with that section of the country. Some of 
them were free to admit that they had been clay-eaters before they were em- 
ployed in the cotton mills." 

On my trips for the last few months I have looked into this question, and I 
am now thoroughly convinced, as much so as a layman can be, that the pallor 
does not originate in the cotton mill nor in the cotton mill community. 

Five years ago I wrote something about the "hook worm," and Dr Stiles"s 
investigations and announcements upon this subject. The "hook worm" theory 
then won as little credence as there was twenty-five years ago in the necessity 
of removing a diseased appendix. Dr Stiles announced that the "hook worm" was 
responsible, more so than all other causes, for the pallor of people in the South. 
All along it was his idea that the "hook worm" was not confined to cotton mill 
operatives, but, on the contrary, that those who went to the cotton mills, and 
were distinguished by their pallor, carried the "hook worm" with them from their 
original homes. The medical profession is now convinced of the force of Dr 
Stiles's announcement of five years ago. During my recent investigations I had 
the pleasure of meeting Dr Stiles on several occasions at work in Columbia and 
at Graniteville, and he is now more thoroughly cgnvinced of the effect of the 
"hook worm" than ever before. He spent six or eight weeks in South Carolina 
in making additional and confirmatory investigations of the "hook worm." Dr 
Ch Waddell Stiles is the chief zo-ologist for the United States marine hospital 
service, and has been at the very head of his work in this country. He has been 
on important and delicate missions abroad, and has done a wonderful work for the 
marine hospital service since his connection with it. He was detailed here to 
make a thorough investigation of the "hook worm" and its effect on mill 
operatives, and, while I have not seen his last report, judging from his talk with 
me, I am thoroughly satisfied that he holds that the best thing that can 
happen for the very class of people, for whom there is so much sympathy— on 
account of the alleged pallor— is for them to go in the cotton mills. He believes 
that if these people will go to the cotton mills and eat substantial food that 
their condition will improve, and that they stand a better chance of getting rid 
Of the "hook worm" and the consequent anaemia and general broken down 
condition in the cotton mills than they do in their original homes, largely because 
they get ready cash and the sanitary conditions are cared for by others. Dr Stiles 
went to work at the source. He spent six weeks, some time ago, in the sand hill 
region of this State. When he went into the modest homes the people told him 
they were suffering from "pernicious malaria." With the aid of his microscope 
he soon found that they were suffering from the "hook worm," and, what is 
more to the point, he cured them. This was NOT in a cotton mill. He found 
these same anaemic conditions not only on the farms, but in a State penitentiary 
and in the saw mill districts, and he went to a large city in this State, and found 
it in the orphan home and at a military institute. And yet none of these people 
had even been at work in or around a cotton mill. Dr Stiles and I talked consider- 
ably about the fearful absence of the hemoglobin or red blood corpuscle that 
should bo in the average human person. He found them down as low as 30 



77 

per cent m men and women going to the mills, and yet with the treatment he 
gave he soon ran the average per cent of red corpuscles up to 85 per cent. If 
anybody should be interested in this "hook worm" theory, and the work of Dr 
Stiles, he ought to come here to Columbia and hear his praises sung at the mills 
in this city, where he accomplished so much, with the co-operation of General 
Manager J. H. M. Beaty and J. sumter Moore. Dr Stiles is of the impressioa 
that the "hook worm" flourishes and has its origin in the sand hill sections, and 
that most of the cases originate there. When these people go to the cotton mills 
he thinks they make a tremendous stride towards improving their condition, and 
that if critics could really compare conditions before and after going to the mills, 
as he has done, that they would applaud the work that the cotton mills are doing 
and the opportunities they offer the poor people who so often go there. 

I hesitate very much to quote Dr Stiles, because of the fact that he is a gov- 
ernmental official, but I do not think I am violating any confidence when I say 
that he is emphatically of the opinion that the cotton mill work is not hurtful to 
the children. He thinks that they are better off even if they have to work day 
and night in the cotton mills than many of them are at their original homes. 
And he is also of the opinion that it is more hurtful to young women, and particu- 
larly young mothers, to be compelled to stand up in the cotton mills and work 
as they do than it is for children, who do not know the trials of motherhood. 

In the matter of child labor Dr Stiles regards the age limit as an artificial 
basis, and in his opinion the physical condition ought to be given more considera- 
tion than the artificial age basis; in other words, he thinks that a child of 10 may 
be healthier, stronger and more fitted for mill or other work than a boy or girl 
of 16 or 18, who is afflicted with the "hook worm," a venereal disease, or possibly 
tuberculosis. In his opinion fully 50 per cent of the mill help from the sand hill 
regions harbor the "hook worm," and half of that number are in need of 
medical attention to relieve their anaemic condition. 

One of the most careful workers, and one who is familiar with the conditions 
in the mill communities, having practiced in and about Columbia for a number 
of years, is Dr "William Weston, a brother of State Senator Francis H. Weston. 
I wrote a note, asking him to set forth in "every-day language" what he found 
with reference to the presence of the "hook worm" and the results of the proper 
treatment, and here follows his very plain and straightforward letter: 

"In reply to your letter of recent date, requesting the results of my observa- 
tions upon uncinanasis, it gives me pleasure to answer briefly as follows: 

"I first began the observations of this disease about four and one-half years 
ago, and since that time have had the opportunity of studying the disease from a 
number of different standpoints in several hundred cases, and my conclusions are 
about as follows: 

"L The disease is, first of all, a disease originating and spreading in sandy 
country districts. 

"2. Its mode of entrance into the body is through the skin, ('ground itch.') 
There may be other means of infection when this probably is removed. 

"3. Its spread is dependent on the spreading of faeces from infected persons. 
In taking the history of something over three hundred cases I gained the infor- 
mation that in their former homes in the country there were no regularly used 
privies. 

"4. The anaemia that I have observed in the cotton mills and other manufac- 
turing establishments is almost invariably due to uncinanasis, (hook worm,) and 
not to malaria or to the inhalation of lint, etc, as is claimed by many. 



78 

"5. Even without specific treatment, infected persons seem to improve after 
moving from the country districts to the mill villages, because the means of fur- 
ther infection is removed, the hygienic conditions better, the food conditions are 
better, and the homes are better in the mill villages than in the country. 

"6. I have not found any cases that appeared to have originated in the mill 
villages. 

"7. From an economic standpoint the disease is so easily cured an! with so 
small expense that I believe it would pay the managers of manufacturing estab- 
lishments in which this disease exists to have them treated at the expense of the 
establishment." 

And why should not the cotton mill presidents want their help to be healthy? 
The healthier anybody is the more anxious and the more willing he is to work, 
and it is on that account that the cotton mills to-day are spending thousands 
upon thousands of dollars to Improve the general health conditions of their labor, 
and to offer them amusements and pleasures that will make them better contented 
with life. 

The Aiken Manufacturing Company is now arranging to spend thousands of 
dollars for a hospital. The Spartan Cotton Mills, under the direction of Mr Mont- 
gomery, is building a modern hospital, which is to be used entirely for the help 
of those mills. Several other cotton mills are undertaking the same work, and 
there are quite a number of cotton mills that have employed, at the expense of 
the corporation, trained nurses, whose business it is to attend those who happen 
to be sick in the mill community, and get them well as soon as possible. 

The humanitarium idea of employing trained nurses is not unmixed .with 
commercialism, because the sooner the help is gotten back to work the better for 
the cotton mill, and from all I can understand this phase of what might be called 
"welfare work" is probably the most sensible that is undertaken by any of the 
cotton mills. I do not know that I have heard any kinder expressions towards 
anything that it done by the cotton mills than I have heard of the work of Miss 
Ida Meyers, who is a trained nurse employed by President Lewis W. Parker, of 
the Olympia and Granby Cotton Mills to work in those communities. I do not 
wish to detract from the work that the Y. W. C. A. is doing, but merely stress 
the work of these young trained nurses in the mill communities. 

It is very unfortunate that there are no absolute records with which to prove 
the truthfulness of the contention that the health conditions in the cotton mills 
are as good as they are elsewhere. Why should they not be? The cotton mill 
superintendents are solicitous for the health of their help, if for no other than 
commercial reasons. They go to considerable expense to get the very purest water 
supply. They provide for the cleaning of the premises by what is known as the 
"outside gang," and everything about the mill village that is within access is 
thoroughly cleaned by these "outside gangs;" that is their sole occupation. The 
mill villages are generally located on elevations, so that the drainage is natural, 
and where it is not the mills look after the drainage and sewage, and in quite 
a number of villages sewerage systems have been installed. At the Union- 
Buffalo Cotton Mills, for instance, every house is provided with a thorough sew- 
erage system, and even filtered water is supplied from the ice plant to the help; 
so eager are the mill officials to maintain the maximum health conditions. Ty- 
phoid fever or smallpox means the stopping of machinery, a dozen cases of sick- 
ness means the loss of that much production, and there is no superintendent who 
wishes to report to his president, and the president in turn to his board of di- 



79 

rectors, that he has not been able to make the usual output, whether it be on 
account of sickness or any other reason. It is no uncommon thing for a presi- 
dent to report to his board that he has spent five or ten thousand dollars to pro- 
tect the health conditions of his help. Within the last few months Mr Lewis W. 
Parker, president of the Olympia Cotton Mills, has expended five or ten thousand 
dollars to thoroughly drain all the property adjacent to the Olympia and Granby 
Cotton Mill villages. 

I know of but one cotton mill in the State, and that is Pelzer, that has been 
a pioneer in a great many good things, that keeps anything like accurate birth 
statistics. All the physicians there co-operate with the management in securing 
the accuracy of these returns. As I have already stated, outside of Charleston 
there are no official birth or death records required by law in this State, and it 
is very unfortunate that this condition exists. The following is a most interesting 1 
summary of the vital statistics that have been gathered at Pelzer for a term of 
years : 

Annual Report. For Tear. Births. Deaths. 

May 12, 1892 1891 161 29 

May 11, 1893 1892 149 27 

May 10, 189-1 1893 131 32 

May 9, 1895 1894 129 36 

May 14, 1896 1895 139 37 

May 13, 1897 1896 153 49 

May 12, 189S 1897 259 49 

May 11, 1899 1898 136 55 

May 10, 1900 1899 176 *90 

May 9, 1901 1900 210 **41 

May 8, 1902 1901 201 78 

1904 160 21 

1905 159 29 

1906 .... 202 25 

1907 216 25 

♦Smallpox. **Measles. 

The population at Pelzer during the period up to and including 1902 shows be- 
tween fifty-five hundred and six thousand. As a result of the introduction of 
labor-saving machinery the mill population now is about 4,500. In the records 
given it will be found that the death rate is considerably lower than the average 
credited to the country at large— it is twenty per thousand. In fact for the years 
1906-7, with a population of 4,500, the death rate has been only twenty-five; the 
average throughout the country for this same number would have been 100; and 
certainly this is a handsome record for Pelzer, and it is to the credit of the mills 
generally. From what I can understand the average at Pelzer is that of tha 
mills as a whole. In this connection I want to say that the birth records are ic- 
markable. It will be noted that thera were 216 children born at Pelzer during the 
year, and I was so much impressed with the great number of children in every 
mill community I visited that I spent a great deal of time, and unsuccessfully, in 
the effort of finding some other communities that could give me definite informa- 
tion as to the great number of children. The house that did not have a "bunch" 
of children in the front yard was indeed a rarity. Some people might suggest 
that there are so many children in the mill communities because they are good 



assets, and in time are going to make mill operatives. "Whatever may be the rea- 
son the proportion of children in the cotton mill communities is very much larger 



than it is elsewhere, 
cords kept at Pelzer: 



The following is a statement by months of the accurate re- 

1906. Deaths. Births. 

June 2 16 

July 3 19 

August 28 

September 3 18 

October 2 27 

November 1 14 

December 1 22 

1907. 

January 2 20 

February 1 19 

March 4 16 

April 5 *11 

May 1 *6 



Population 4,500. 



25 216 

report missing. **2 reports missing. 



The system of vital statistics at the Piedmont Cotton Mill will in a few years 
be valuable. It is a great pity that all of the cotton mills, on their own behalf, 
do not voluntarily undertake this work. Mr Rowell, who has been keeping the 
statistics on his own acount, at Piedmont, advises me that the death rate in that 
community was six per one thousand. 

If one were to believe all that is written by agitators and space writers about 
the health of the people that are in the cotton mills he would declare that the 
doors of every enterprise, whether it be a cotton mill or a planing plant, ought 
to be closed, but a study of the actual conditions, and a visit to any of the one 
hundred and fifty mills in this State, would show that these alleged conditions do 
not exist. As a whole the conditions are really as good, and I actually believe 
better, with the help in the mills than outside of the mills; that is, among the 
same class of people. A great many of them are taught better habits, and their 
sanitary condition is looked after by those who are paid to do so. The water sup- 
ply is more carefully watched and physicians are at hand at a moment's notice. 

I have notes from a number of mills as to health and as to the actual condi- 
tion of certain families, and at the risk of being tedious I may be pardoned in 
going over a few of these notes. 

There is an old saying that "the proof of the pudding is in the chewing of the 
bag." If the cotton mill operatives are killed out every five years, as I believe 
some woman has written, there would be no help in the mills of to-day, and it 
would be impossible to explain how many of the families have been there for a 
generation. As a matter of fact in any of the older cotton mills there can be 
found three generations that have been working since the mill started. This 
is particularly the case at Clifton, Pacolet, Graniteville, Spartan Mills, Piedmont, 
Anderson or any of the other older plants, where the conditions are sufficiently 
attractive to hold the help from one generation to another. At Piedmont, for 
instance, the Chandlers, the Cooks, the Rosses, the Browns, Middletons, Wal- 



81 

drops, Massingales, Roberts and McElreatts have been there since the mill began, 
and the Thompson family has had three generations in the same mill. At 
Anderson, which started in 1889, may be found the Woods, Gibsons, O. R. Rob- 
erts, W. B. Hughes, C. G. Foster, S. W. Stevenson, Mrs W. A. White, Mrs Lula 
Mulkey. When this mill started there were twenty-eight families "on the hill," 
and of this number there are still eight or ten of the original families. There are 
more in proportion at Newberry. Mr W. A. Johnson, who went into the Reedy 
River Cotton Mill when he was 7 years old, is now at work, and has never lost 
a day since he started work, which was thirty-eight years ago. At Union the 
Gossett family is one of the oldest, and Mr R. P. Gossett, who started at 11 
years of age, has been in the mill continuously twenty-seven years, and is to-day 
one of the overseers. The Richland Cotton Mill, Columbia, which started twelve 
years ago, has "on the hill" quite a number of families which have been there 
since the mill started; among them being the Pearces,the Kellys, Hughes, Chap- 
mans and Bishops. There is no use to continue this list; for it would simply 
multiply facts that can be ascertained with the slightest effort. If these people 
could not live for five or ten years in a mill community, what would have 
become of such families? I think that one of the most interesting topics that 
might be written would be under the head of "longevity of the help," and I should 
like to have the chance some time to expand this idea, but just at this time I 
want to take up just one little mill community, that of Graniteville, which has 
been running for sixty years. There are to-day in that mill enough people who 
have been there for more than an ordinary life-time to thoroughly disprove all 
this talk about cotton mill work limiting the tenure of life. Mr W. H. Coursey, 
who is a man of 70 years of age, has been employed at the Graniteville Cotton 
Mill continuously for forty-six years, and is to-day at work. Mr Tillman Faulk- 
ner is 71 years of age, and has been continuously in the cotton mills since he was 
a boy. Quite recently he celebrated his thirty-fifth anniversary as superintend- 
ent of the Methodist Sunday-school of the Graniteville community. Mrs Prince 
has worked in the Graniteville Cotton Mills for more than a generation; worked 
there side by side with her children and grandchildren. She is now old enough 
to retire from mill work and is living happily at Leesville, whither she moved 
a short while ago. Mr M. J. Brewer joined the Graniteville Mill Company when 
it went to the war. After the war he returned to the cotton mill, and he has been 
employed there continuously in the slasner room. It is now more than forty years 
since Lee surrendered, and Mr Brewer was in the mill before the war. Mr Ben 
Jackson has been at the Graniteville Cotton Mill continuously for more than forty 
years. Miss Sims has been employed in the mill for about forty-five years and 
continues to work. It is said by some of her friends that she has accumulated 
$10,000 as a result of her labors at Graniteville. Mr Luther Powell has oeen 
employed continuously at Graniteville for thirty-seven years, and is one of the 
"old reliables" at this plant. Mr Giles McCarthy, who is the night watchman, is 
employed by the cotton mill, as are his children and grandchildren. Mr John 
J. Taylor has been employed by the Graniteville Mill for fifty years, and he is on 
the pay roll with his children and grandchildren. Mr T. Bragg Sims has been on 
the pay roll of the Graniteville Company continuously for thirty-five years, and 
Mr Jackson Kay holds a similar record. I wonder very much if there is any 
other industry that can show a better record in a single plant, and if this is not 
convincing proof. Some of the people who went to Graniteville originally have 
scattered as a leaven to other successful cotton mills and this list may be 



82 

extended. The next time one cf the writers who carries a kodak with him 
goes through a cotton mill community I would suggest that he take a good 
picture of Ed "Walker and Duncan, and Buchanan at Piedmont, and let the 
world see what continuous work in the cotton mill has done for South Carolina 
boys; and then when they pick out for photographing some delicate girl let 
them also get the consent of Miss Ola Timmerman, who is working in the spool- 
ing room of the Newberry Cotton Mills, or some hundred others that I may 
name to let the world see if there are any handsomer or more robust young 
women employed in any work. 

The position of superintendent is generally given to those who started in the 
cotton mill at the bottom. The general idea with cotton mill officials is to re- 
ward faithful services. I talked to a great many cotton mill superintendents, and 
almost without exception they started work when they were very young. Super- 
intendent Tice, of the Chiquola Mills, started in at Piedmont when he was only 
twelve years of age, and has worked ever since, and his health to-day is as good 
as any of his neighbors. Superintendent Buchanan, of Piedmont, has worked 
continuously for twenty-six years. Superintendent Harriman, of the Monaghan 
Cotton Mills, started in when he was twelve years of age, and has worked con- 
tinuously for forty-five years. Superintendent Skipper, of the Lancaster Mills, 
started work in the mills when he was nine years of age and has been at work 
ever since. Superintendent Wilbur, of Mollohon, and Superintendent Winslow, of 
Anderson, started work with New England cotton mills when they were chil- 
dren, and they do not show that they have been hurt. General Superintendent 
Stone, of the Pacolet and Spartan Mills, has ben a superintendent for thirty-five 
years. Superintendent Davis, of Newberry, started in when he was a mere boy; 
and so the story goes all along the line. At Piedmont Mr Powell, who is the his- 
torian of that community, gave me a list of fifty-seven men who had worked in 
Piedmont, who were to-day, or have been, superintendents of cotton mills, either 
in this or adjacent States. These fifty-seven men, I understand, are to-day earn- 
ing an average salary of $3,000, and this has been the training of one mill. The 
following is the list of the mill graduates, so to speak, of Piedmont Mills: 

J. I. Rounds, Royal Kallock, C. A. Davenport, A. R. Steele, Jas F. Her, W. F. 
Walker, S. T. Buchanan, John Steele, Wm Steele, William Her, James Tice, D. E. 
Tice, Wm G. Tice, Benj Guy, Robert Walker, William Roberts, James W. Rob- 
erts, James Rogers, William Rogers, J. Newton Smith, John Summey, J. Walker 
Wright, James Campbell, Alex McCall, T. A. Sisemore, K. McGowan, W. E. Redd, 
Z. T. McKinney, John P. Dillard, Wm Cobb, G. M. Pilgrim, Geo Buchanan, 
Hayne Cromer, John Lyon, F. M. Osteen, J. S. Osteen, Chas J. Tarrant, John 
Crosby, John Morris, John, Morris Jr, E. H. Shanklin, J. S. Cooper, Tom Johnson, 
Will Story, Jim Wirks, Jim Woodson, Bert Summey, Frank Harlen, Jim Alex- 
ander, Wallace Norris, Berry League, Frank Ferrell, Charles Koon, Belton West- 
singer, Early Grover. Crookshanks, Jas Goodrow. 

The superintendents of the South Carolina cotton mills are all of the same 
stock as are those on the pay roll as operatives, and in a great many ..instances 
it is the same with the presidents of the cotton mills. It has been largely a 
question of accident as to who should be president and who the superintendent 
in a great many cases, and that is why there is so much cordiality and good feel- 
ing between the presidents, the superintendents and their operatives. Not many 
years ago we read in the newspapers of the great base ball team at Piedmont, 
with Tice and Hammett as the battery. To-day "Jim" Hammett is president of 



83 

Chiquola Cotton Mill, and Tice is the superintendent, and some of the men who 
played on that same team are employed in the mill. But this same touch of 
fellowship extends all along, and there is a general disposition among the cot- 
ton mill presidents to mix and mingle with their employees. President Jno A. 
Law, of the Saxon Mills, which is a high type of the successful mill, has his 
home in the mill community in the suburbs of Spartanburg, where the mill is 
located. At the Monaghan Cotton Mill the superintendent and all of the overseers, 
the five teachers employed by the cotton mill, the Y. M. C. A. and T. W. C. A. 
workers all live in the mill community.- I may almost be tempted to take up the 
narrative of people who have gone to the cotton mills in almost helpless condi- 
tions, but out of this collection of data I must mention the case of one boy from 
Colleton County, who appealed to President W. G. Smith, who was then at Bam- 
berg. He told him that he was suffering with malaria, and that he was unable 
to do any work. The cotton mill and Dr Wannamaker went halves on the young 
man, the physician supplying the medicine and the mill the wages with which to 
"keep him going." The young man was cured while working for the mill and 
he has been continuously at work since. There are thousands of such cases. 

Within the last few years there has been a wonderful appreciation of the 
necessity of pure water, and the cotton mills have almost gone to extremes in 
their desire to supply the purest water for their help. While I was on my 
visits there were two sets of artesian well borers at work. One of them at 
Whitney and another at Rock Hill to supplement the present artesian well sup- 
plies. At Lancaster they have two artesian wells. At Piedmont there are four or 
five bored wells; and all of the surface wells, which are being gradually re- 
placed, are piped in with terra cotta piping. The Aiken Manufacturing Com- 
pany has had three artesian wells bored. Artesian wells are in very general use 
among all the mills. The idea is to supply the purest water possible in all the 
mills, and in a great many of them there is a constant supply of running water 
through the mills. In Spartanburg and Columbia the mills restrict their opera- 
tives to the use of city water, which is supposed to be the best that can be ob- 
tained. At Orangeburg there are four bored wells. Graniteville has just finished 
boring artesian wells at a cost of $10,000. Woodruff has a number of wells one 
hundred feet deep. At Pelzer the water is supplied from driven wells. At Bel- 
ton there are seven driven wells. Williamston and other nearby towns have the 
same source of water, and whatever improvement can be suggested in this way 
is accepted by any of the mill comporations. 

Just as an indication of what the mills are doing for their help: At Union-Buf- 
falo there is a cotton oil plant that has an ice factory in conjunction with it. The 
same thing is found at Pelzer, and at both of these mills ice is supplied all the 
operatives at a minimum cost. At Pelzer and Newberry ice is supplied the help 
at 35 cents a hundred pounds. Practically every mill in the State is equipped 
with Sturtevant ventilating apparatus, which is used to fan into the cotton mill 
hot or cold air as the case may be. One of these fresh air plants will pump into 
a cotton mill of average size about fifteen thousand cubic feet of fresh air every 
ten hours. Suspended from the walls of the cotton mills are little beehive-look- 
ing appliances made of metal that are almost constantly puffing out what appears 
to be steam. They are what are known as humidifiers and, instead of being steam 
that they are puffing, it is pure condensed water that is forced into the cotton 
mill to humidify or dampen the atmosphere. While the humidifiers decrease 
the temperature and make it more pleasant to work in the mills, at the same 



84 

time they supply the necessary moisture to make the yarn run sn#oothly, as 
there is a certain amount of moisture necessary for the smooth running of cotton 
fabrics. Good cotton mill work cannot be done in a dry atmospheric condition, as 
the tension on the cotton fibre is too great, and the moisture brought into the 
mill by these humidifiers gives the cotton fibre the texture that is necessary for 
it to run smoothly. While the humidifiers are useful from a manufacturing 
standpoint, they are also o4 service to the operatives in making conditions more 
pleasant. In winter, instead of cold water being forced into the mill, steam is 
used, which has the same textile effect, and which makes the room much more 
pleasant, together with the hot air that is forced into the rooms by means of 
the fans. A great deal is said by some writers about windows being closed in 
cotton mills. As a general thing the windows are closed in the weave rooms be- 
cause the work runs smoother and better where they are closed, but I found a 
great many of the cotton mills with the windows open; but where the windows 
are closed the fresh air is pumped in, and the humidifiers together with the wet- 
ting of the floors, make the atmosphere very comfortable within. At Lancas- 
ter, which has one of the largest weave rooms that I went into, the top win- 
dows were all open, and at quite a number of the mills, particularly those mak- 
ing coarse goods, either the top or both windows were open. At several places 
I made a note of the temperature at the time of my visit. On August 19 the tem- 
perature in the weave room was 102 in one mill; at McColl it was 94; at the Spar- 
tan Mills, on August 25, it was 95; at Piedmont it was 95; at the Whitney Mills 
it was 85. The purpose is to keep the temperature as nearly constant as pos- 
sible, about 95 in summer and about 80 in winter. The humidifiers in the average 
mill pumps in as much as 2,000 gallons of pure water per day. Of course, this 
water goes into the mills as a vapor and is not hurtful. The difference between 
the dry and the wet bulb, as technically called, being ten degrees, the "dry 
bulb" being the higher of the two. 

The cotton mills undertake to provide sanitary water closets for their help, 
but it is very little short of disgraceful to see the way in which they are ap- 
preciated by the help. Negroes are employed to keep the closets in a cleanly 
condition, but too often the expensive apparatus that is supplied is not given ordi- 
nary care by those for whom they are provided. Another trouble in a great many 
of the cotton mills is the frightful amount of tobacco juice that is expectorated 
on the floors. At one of the cotton mills— Newberry— there are signs. "Please do not 
spit on the floors." This seems to have had some effect in this particular mill, 
but in the great majority of mills wherever you go you are welcomed with a 
great spray of tobacco juice; the use of tobacco and snuff not confined to men. 

In a number of cotton mill communities there are what is known as physi- 
cians' clubs— in other words, the mills regulate the amount of charges on the part 
of the physicians. At Newberry, for instance, there are five or six regular prac- 
titioners who do cotton mill work, and each of these physicians has what is known 
as "his list." The operatives pay ten cents per month for each member of the 
family, and this ten cents per month is paid directly at "the office" and in consid- 
eration of this fee the family physician responds to whatever calls are made. It is 
said that this arrangement is very satisfactory at the Newberry and Mollohon 
Mills, and at other places. At Whitney, and perhaps half of the cotton mills, 
there are resident physicians, but there s no business arrangement between "the 
office" and the physicians, or between the physicians and the operatives— the 
lielp paying for such calls as are made. At some of the cotton mills, as is the 



85 

case at Pelzer and Pacolet and other of the larger mills, the physicians are ex- 
pected to charge 50 cents for day visits and a little more for night visits, and no 
more. At most of the cotton mills, however, the operatives call in such physi- 
cians as they please. 

It is the general rule in the cotton mills to have what is known as burial 
unions, whereby each of the operatives pay a nominal monthly fee or is assessed 
upon the death of any of his fellow workers to pay the expenses of burial— the 
cotton mill always furnishes a plot in the cemetery free. One of the most inter- 
esting talkers I met on my trips was Dr Kirkpatrick, who is the resident physi- 
cian at Pacolet. I asked him what three things would tend most to the improved 
conditions of the cotton mill help, and he told me that, in his opinion, these things 
were; first, compulsory education; second, whatever means can be used to di- 
minish the amount of lint and dust in the mills, and third, to get some system 
by which the help can be taught how to carry out instructions, and how to im- 
prove their cooking. 

Dr Kirkpatrick is a great believer in the use of milk, and it was after my 
talk with him that I emphasized my inquiries at the various mill communities 
as to the number of cows in the villages; and I might at the same time have gone 
into the poultry raising business, because most of the operatives run small poul- 
try farms as a side line; but, of course, with the chicken raising, it is very much 
as with the vegetable gardens. Those who are Industrious succeed, and those who 
are indifferent fail or make no effort to raise chickens. 



ARTICLE XIII. -Statistics of Mill Population. 

As a result of the responses to circular letters that I sent out asking for In- 
formation from all of the textile plant in this State, I present this detailed 
statement of the number of employees engaged at the various plants in this 
State, together with the mill population immediately dependent upon the cotton 
mill industry. 

The summary shows that there are 54,434 people in the actual employ of the 
cotton mills of South Carolina, and that there are 126,779, practically one-tenth 
of the total population of the State, and a very much larger proportion of the 
white population— owe their livelihood to the cotton mill industry to-day. The 
census for 1900 shows a total population of 1,340,316 for South Carolina. Of this 
number 557,807 are whit s. How many people realize that in 1907 fully one-fifth 
of the total white population, making due allowance for the increase in popula- 
tion since 1900, are dependent on the cotton mills for a livelihood. In 1900 the 
white population of South Carolina was 557,807. To-day 126,799 white people earn 
their livelihood through South Carolina's cotton mills! The totals, which are 
made up from the direct reports of the cotton mills to me, and which are obvi- 
ously of great interest, are as follows: 

Name— No of Employees. Mill Population. 

Abbeville Cotton Mills 375 750 

Aetna Cotton Mills 300 1,000 

Aiken Mfg Co 500 1,000 

American Spinnig Co 700 2,000 

Anderson Cotton Mills 900 2,500 

Apalache Mills 300 800 

Aragon Cotton Mills 275 325 

Arcade Cotton Mills 225 396 

Arcadia Mills 150 ' 500 

Arkwright Mills 350 ■ 700 

Bamberg Cotton Mills 150 500 

Banna Mfg Co. 100 300 

Batesville Mill (Putnam estate) 47 100 

Beaumont Mfg Co 300 450 

Belton Mills 700 2,500 

Brandon Mills 420 922 

Brogan Mills 600 1,200 

Calhoun Falls Mfg Co — — 

Calumet Mfg Co 125 200 

Camperdown Mills. : 360 1,200 

Capital City Mills. 150 500 

Hamilton Carhart Cotton Mills 125 200 

Carolina Mills. 84 200 

Cherokee Falls Mfg Co 300 500 

Cheswell Cotton Mills 280 492 

Chiquola Mfg Co 400 1,000 

Clifton Mfg Co 1,107 2,185 

Clinton Cotton Mills 500 1,000 



87 

Name — No of Empolyees. Mill Population. 

Clover Cotton Mills 300 500 

Columbia Mills Co 1,200 3,000 

Conneross Yarn Mill 48 100 

D. B. Converse Co 375 900 

Courtenay Mfg Co 400 1,100 

Cowpens Mfg Co » 200 400 

Cox Mfg Co 275 500 

Darlington Mfg Co 600 1,800 

Dillon Cotton Mills 150 400 

Drayton Mills 500 1,200 

Easley Cotton Mills 500 900 

Edgefield Mfg Co 175 300 

Enoree Mfg Co 650 1,600 

Eureka Cotton Mills 150 350 

Fairfield Cotton Mills 375 625 

Fingerville Mfg Co 200 300 

Fork Shoals Mfg Co 60 150 

Fountain Inn Mfg Co 250 450 

Franklin Mills 160 250 

Gaffney Mfg Co 700 1,800 

Glenn-Lowry Mfg Co 400 1,000 

Glenwood Cotton Mills 300 700 

Globe Mfg Co 50 150 

Gluck Mills 300 800 

Granby Cotton Mills 536 1,000 

Graniteville Mfg Co 900 3,000 

(Includes Vaucluse) 

Greenwood Cotton Mills 400 600 

Grendel Cotton Mills 400 750 

Hamer Cotton Mills 110 250 

Hartsville Cotton Mill 350 700 

Hermitage Cotton Mills 225 400 

Highland Park Mfg Co 350 1,500 

Huguenot Mills . 220 625 

Inman Mills 191 500 

Irene Mills 125 150 

Issaquena Mills 140 400 

Jackson Mills 225 600 

Jonesville Mfg Co 450 700 

Jordan Mfg Co 25 75 

Lancaster Cotton Mills 1,050 3,000 

Langley Mfg Co 900 3,500 

Lauren Cotton Mills 450 834 

Lexington Mfg Co 150 450 

Liberty Cotton Mills 200 500 

Limestone Mills 350 600 

Lockhart Mills 750 1,400 

Lydia Cotton Mills 300 1,000 

Manchester Cotton Mills 325 675 



88 

Name— No. of Employees. Mill Population. 

Manetta Cotton mils 800 2,000 

Marion Mfg Co 100 400 

Marlboro Cotton Mills 1,100 2,200 

Mary-Louise Mills 75 200 

Maple Cotton Mills 350 550 

McGee Mfg Co 125 300 

Mill-Fort Mill Co 475 800 

(Fort Mill Mfg Co) 

Mills Mfg Co , 450 1,200 

Mollohon Mfg Co 400 800 

Monaghan Mills 700 1,800 

Monarch Cotton Mills 375 1,000 

Middleburg Mills 225 500 

Neely Mfg Co 75 100 

Newberry Cotton Mills 582 1,000 

Ninety-Six Cotton Mill 170 300 

Norris Cotton Mills Co 200 600 

Octoraro Mill Co 50 125 

Olympia Cotton Mills 1,000 1,500 

Orange Cotton Mills 125 400 

Orangeburg Mfg Co 200 280 

Orr Cotton Mills 700 1,500 

Pacolet Mfg Co 765 2,200 

Palmetto Cotton Mills 121 187 

Pelham Mills . 300 .. .. 500 

Pelzer Mfg Co 2,000 4,500 

Pendleton Cotton Mills 45 150 

Pendleton Mfg Co 59 137 

Pickens Cotton Mills 250 600 

Piedmont Mfg Co 1,200 3,500 

Pine Creek Mfg Co 250 700 

Poe Manufacturing Co 700 2,000 

Reedy River Mfg Co -225 452 

Richland Cotton Mills , 350 1,200 

Riverside Mfg Co 225 600 

Royal Bag and Yarn Mfg Co 400 700 

Saxa-Gotha Mills : 150 450 

Saxon Mills 450 701 

Seminole Mfg Co (being finished).. 

Seneca Cotton Mills 275 700 

Spartan Mills 900 2,000 

Springstien Mills 407 1,200 

Sumter Cotton Mills 82 118 

Tavora Cotton Mills 60 200 

Townsend Cotton Mills 120 240 

Toxaway Mills 150 500 

Tucapau Mills 580 1,400 

Tyger Cotton Mills 175 400 

Union-Buffalo Mills Co 1,700 .... 3,600 



89 

Name— No. of Employees. 

Valley Falls Mfg Co 100 

Vardry Cotton Mills 60 

Victoria Cotton Mills 225 

Victor Mfg Co 662 

Walhalla Cotton Mills 275 

Walterboro Cotton Mills 125 

Warren Mfg Co 485 

Ware Shoals Mfg Co 600 

Watts's Mills 350 

Whitaker Cotton Mills 100 

Whitney Mfg Co 400 

Williamston Mills 250 

Woodruff Cotton Mills 333 

Woodside Cotton Mills 600 

Wylie Mills 225 

York Cotton Mills 200 

Grand totals cotton mills proper 52,769 

KNITTING MILLS. 
Name— Employees. 

Excelsior Knitting Mills 500 

Oconee Knitting Mills 55 

The Westminster Knitting Mills 70 

Blue Ridge Hosiery Mill 150 

Ailing & Green Knitting Mills 30 

Manning Knitting Mills 75 

Ashley Mfg Co 55 

Walhalla Knitting Mills 60 

G. H. Tilton & Sons 275 

Crescent Mfg Co 185 

Bowling Green Knitting Mills 30 

Total. 1,485 

MISCELLANEOUS. 
Name— Employees. 

Union Bleachery and Finishing Co 75 

Southern Shuttle and Bobbin Co 60 

Clemson College Textile School 

American Press Cloth Co 30 

Woodstock Hardwood and Spool Mfg Co 35 

Southern Aseptic Laboratory 15 

Total 215 

SUMMARY. 
Name— Employees. 

Cloth and yarn mills 52,769 

Knitting Mills 1,485 

Miscellaneous 200 

Grand total 54,454 



Mill Population. 



375 



2,500 
1,000 
115 
900 
500 
595 
1,200 
320 
400 



Mill Population. 
800 

SB 
250 
275 
100 
250 

55 

50 
275 
200 
100 



2,390 



Mill Population. 

260 
150 



560 



Mill Population. 



126,828 



90 

It will be noted in the above lists that the only miscellaneous industries that 
are included are the Bleachery at Greenville and the Southern Shuttle and Bob- 
bin Company of Spartanburg, together with the American Press Cloth plant at 
Columbia, all of which are regarded as immediately conected with the textile 
industry in South Carolina. 

It will be noted that the jute manufacturing plants— there are three in this 
State— one at Rock Hill, the Enterprise Manufacturing Company, the Charleston 
Manufacturing Company and the Goldsmith Manufacturing Company, in Charles- 
ton, not being included in the above statement, nor in any of the other cotton 
mill tabulations that are to follow. 

New cotton mills are now being constructed, and the number of operatives 
Is necessarily constantly increasing. 



ARTICLE XIV.— Spindle Statistics. 

The standard of gauging the size of a cotton mill, as generally accepted, is 
the number of spindles. It is generally known that South Carolina occupies the 
foremost position in the South in the number of spindles operated, and is second 
in"^he Union— the first place being held by Massachusetts— in the number of 
spindles, and consequently in the actual development of the industry. South 
Carolina is conspicuous among the Southern States for her large plants and for 
the eminent success that has followed the development of the industry in this 
State. Following is a condensed statement, taken largely from the report of the 
department of agriculture, and prepared in 1903 by Mr J. L. Watkins, showing 
the remarkable and steady development of cotton mills in South Carolina. To econ- 
omize space there is presented in the same table the consumption of cotton and the 
pro port ion of the crop raised in South Carolina used, in bales, by the cotton mills of 
this"state. This report will be of intense interest not only to those who are inter- 
ested in cotton manufacturing PER SE, but as demonstrating the immense quan- 
tity of cotton that has to be consumed to keep them going: 



Number 
Tear. of Mills. 

1820 

1840 

1849-50 18 

1859-60 17 

1869-70 ,. 12 

1874-75 .. ... 18 

1879-80 14 

1884-85 31 

1889-90 34 

1890-91 44 

1891-92 47 

1892-93 51 

1893-94 50 

1894-95 48 

1895-96 58 

1896-97 73 

1897-98 76 

1898-99 80 

1899-1900 93 

1900-1901 115 

1901-2 127 

1902-3 136 

1903-4 150 

1904-5 156 

August 31, 1905-6 140 

•August 31, 1906-7 140 

*From Commercial and 





Number bales Number bales 


Per Cent 


Number 


consumed. 


produced of 


crop used 


of Spindles. 




in S. C. by S 


. C. mills. 


588 


**46,449 




.... 


16,855 


6,150 




.... 


36,500 


, 9,929 


300,901 


3.3 


30,890 


8,648 


353,412 


2.4 


?4,940 


10,811 


224,500 


4.8 


70,282 


19,945 


360,000 


5.5 


82,424 


33,634 


522,548 


6.4 


217,761 


77,451 


511,800 


15.1 


332,784 


133,342 


747,190 


17.8 


416,158 


164,814 


859,000 


19.2 


467,825 


183,625 


780,000 


23.5 


503,269 


200,219 


635,000 


31.5 


569,033 


215,228 


650,000 


33.1 


619.849 


229,580 


862,604 


26.6 


802,854 


257,700 


764,700 


33.7 


1,056.198 


297,782 


936,463 


31.8 


1,205,272 


398,456 


1,030,085 


38.7 


1,285,328 


466,181 


1,035,414 


45.0 


1,693,643 


489,559 


830,714 


58.9 


1,308,692 


501,290 


743,294 


67.4 


2,246,926 


607,906 


843,660 


72.1 


2,473,521 


587,126 


925,490 


63.4 


2,861,369 


569,559 


787,425 


46.8 


2,907,127 


563,980 


1,208,180 


46.6 


2,969,345 


620,839 


1,207,595 


51.4 


3,625,874 


695,682 


957,000 


72.0 



Financial Chronicle.) ** Pounds. 



92 

The following is a complete list of the cotton mills of South Carolina now ?n 
operation, together with their spindles and looms. The figures indicate the pro- 
portionate part that the various corporations have played in placing South Caro- 
lina in the foremost position among the Southern States in textile industries: 

Spindles. Looms. 

Abbeville Cotton Mills .. 28,800 940 

Aetna Cotton Mills 21,800 500 

Aiken Manufacturing Company 27,000 792 

American Spinning Company 40,896 758 

Anderson Cotton Mills 70,000 1,864 

Apalache Mills 20,000 500 

Aragon Cotton Mills 10,240 280 

Acade Mills 12,314 314 

Arcadia Mills .. 14,624 S44 

Arkwright Mills' 20,256 604 

Bamberg Cotton Mills 10,752 248 

Banna Manufacturing Company 6,528 

Batesville Mill, (Putnam estate) 2,600 

Beaumont Manufacturing Company 20,224 252 

Belton Mills 53,000 1,250 

Brandon Mills , 40,320 992 

Brogan Mills 26,208 864 

Calhoun Palls Mfg Company 16,000 400 

Calumet Manufacturing Company 8,100 

Camperdown Mills 10,000 432 

Capital City Mills .' 15,000 300 

Hamilton Carhart Cotton Mills 8,000 -202 

Carolina Mills - 6,000 176 

Cherokee Palls Mfg Company 29,960 608 

Cheswell Cotton Mills 10,272 362 

Chiquola Manufacturing Company 40,320 1,000 

Clifton Manufacturing Company ., 86,800 2,660 

Clinton Cotton Mills 36,000 900 

Clover Cotton Mills 20,000 ■ 

Columbia Mills Company 30,740 498 

Conneross Yarn Mill 840 • 

D. E. Converse Company 37,392 1,058 

Courtenay Manufacturing Company 23,136 648 

Cowpens Manufacturing Company 17,000 406 

Cox Manufacturing Company 25,000 

Darlington Manufacturing Co 51,392 1,464 

Dillon Cotton Mills ... 8,864 

Drayton Mills 44,800 900 

Easley Cotton Mills 37,744 1,020 

Edgefield Manufacturing Company 5,000 320 

Enoree Manufacturing Company 36,000 932 

Eureka Cotton Mills 14,600 

Fairfield Cotton Mills 25,000 500 

Fingervile Manufacturing Co 9,000 



93 

Spindles. Looms. 

Fork Shoals Manufacturing Co 5,248 

Fountain Inn Manufacturing Co 10,000 160 

Franklin Mills 10,000 288 

Gaffney Manufacturing Company 61,648 1,565 

Glenn-Lowry Manufacturing Co 33,000 900 

Glenwood Cotton Mills 22,336 566 

Goobe Manufacturing Company 4,000 

Gluck Mills 32,000 672 

Granby Cotton Mills 57,000 1,542 

Graniteville Manufacturing Co 55,000 1,700 

(Includes Vaucluse) 

Greenwood Cotton Mills 22,000 . 684 

Grendel Cotton Mills 33,152 834 

Hamer Cotton Mills 8,192 

Hartsville Cotton Mill ..... 29,000 680 

Hermitage Cotton Mills .. ... 16,244 300 

Highland Park Manufacturing Co 8,192 836 

Huguenot Mills 6,400 293 

Inman Mills 19,421 &00 

Irene Mills 3,328 76 

Issaquena Mills 11,500 350 

Jackson Mills 20,160 640 

Jones ville Manufacturing Company. 15,000 240 

Jordan Manufacturing Company . = 36 

Lancaster Cotton Mills ..... 75,000 1,650 

Langley Manufacturing Company 43,000 1,300 

Laurens Cotton Mills 44,832 1,290 

Lexington Manufacturing Co 7,100 204 

Liberty Cotton Mills 9,764 286 

Limestone Mills 25,000 650 

Lockhart Mills 51,000 1,604 

Lydia Cotton Mills 21,972 438 

Manchester Cotton Mills 18,192 300 

Manetta Cotton Mills 18,620 400 

Marion Manufacturing Company 7,168 * 

Marlboro Cotton Mills 49,000 * 

Mary Louise Mills 4,352 * 

Maple Cotton Mills 18,864 * 

McGee Manufacturing Company 3,200 44 

Mill, Fort Mill Company, Fort Mill 

Manufacturing Company, (sam e) 20,500 900 

Mills Manufacturing Company ,.. 31,000 816 

Mollohon Manufacturing Co 29,952 736 

Monaghan Mills 60,000 1,460 

Monarch Cotton Mills 41,000 1,000 

Middleburg Mills - 9,728 300 

Neely Manufacturing Company ... 3,500 * 

Newberry Cotton Mills 28,000 900 

Ninety-Six Cotton Mill 20,608 474 



94 

Spindles. Looms. 

Norris Cotton Mills Company 18,288 452 

Octoraro Mill Company 4,500 * 

Olympia Cotton Mills 100,320 2,250 

Orange Cotton Mills 5,500 * 

Orangeburg Manufacturing Co 14,000 400 

Orr Cotton Mills 57,496 L504 

Pacolet Manufacturing Company 55,684 1,983 

Palmetto Cotton Mills 10,000 280 

Pelham Mills 10,752 * 

Pelzer Manufacturing Company 130,000 3,200 

Pendleton CottonMills 3,136 * 

Pendleton Manufacturing Co .. 2,500 * 

Pickens Cotton Mills 15,000 432 

Piedmont Manufacturing Co 67,300 2,066 

Pine Creek Manufacturing Co 18,816 468 

Poe Manufacturing Company 61,312 1,520 

Reedy River Manufacturing Co 12,000 371 

Richland Cotton Mills 26,112 720 

Riverside Manufacturing Co 18,928 ** 

Royal Bag and Yarn Mfg Co 12,000 330 

Saxa-Gotha Mills 10,000 242 

Saxon Mills 30,464 745 

Seminole Mfg Co, (being finished).. 

Seneca Cotton Mills 17,280 456 

Spartan Mills 85,080 4,590 

Springstien Mills 14,000 700 

Sumter Cotton Mills 4,100 * 

Tavora Cotton Mill 5,000 

Townsend Cotton Mill 5,109 

Toxaway Mills 16,128 

Tucapau Mills 63,744 

Tyger Cotton Mills 8,132 

Union-Buffalo Mills Company 157,000 

Valley Falls Manufacturing Co 6,240 

Vardry Cotton Mills 4,320 

Victoria Cotton Mills 11,456 

Victor Manufacturing Company 59,176 

Walhalla Cotton Mills .. ... 15,000 

Walterboro Cotton Mills 8,500 

Warren Manufacturing Company 35,000 

Ware Shoals Manufacturing Co 50,000 

Watts Mills 40,320 

Whitaker Cotton Mills 3,120 

Whitney Manufacturing Company. 20,572 

Williamston Mills 32,256 

Woodruff Cotton Mills 36,288 

Woodside Cotton Mills 45,120 

Wylie Mills 20,160 

York CottonMills 13,264 

3,695,920 90.330 

•Manufacture yarns, twines, etc. 



...* 


...* 


484 


1,696 


256 


4,301 


156 


...* 


300 


1,427 


510 


276 


1,000 


1,400 


940 


* 


740 


816 


810 


1,100 


«* 


»* 



95 

There is grreat interest in the location of the cotton mills by counties. The first 

table, giving the data as to spindles and looms, is arranged lexicographically, but 
another table arranging the cotton mills by counties will be of general interest. 
It is as follows: 

County. Name of Mill. 

Abbeville: Spindles Looms. 

The Abbeville Cotton Mills 28,800 940 

Calhoun Falls Mfg Co 16,000 400 

Aiken: 

Aiken Manufacturing Company 27,000 792 

Seminole Mfg Co (being finished) 22,000 512 

Graniteville Mfg Co, includes Vau- 

cluse) 55,000 1,700 

Langley Manufacturing Company 43,000 1,300 

Warren Manufacturing Company 35,000 1,000 

Anderson: 

Anderson Cotton Mills 70,000 1,864 

Belton Mills .... .... 53,000 1,250 

Brogan Mills 26,208 864 

Conneross Tarn Mill 840 

Chiquola Manufacturing Company 40,320 1,000 

Cox Manufacturing Company 25,000 

Gluck Mills 32,000 672 

Jackson Mills : 20,160 640 

Orr Cotton Mills 57,496 1.504 

Pelzer Manufacturing Company 130,000 3,200 

Pendleton Cotton Mills 3,136 

Pendleton Manufacturing Company 2,500 

Riverside Manufacturing Company 18,928 

H. C. Townsend Cotton Mill 5,109 

Toxaway Mills 16,128 484 

Williamston Mills 32,256 816 

Bamberg: 

Bamberg Cotton Mills 10,752 248 

Charleston: 

Royal Bag and Yarn Mfg Co 12,000 330 

Cherokee: 

Cherokee Falls Manufacturing Co 29,96U 608 

Gaffney Manufacturing Company 61,648 1,566 

Globe Manufacturing Company 4,000 

Irene Mills ,. 3,328 76 

Limestone Mills 25,000 650 

Whittaker Cotton Mills 3,120 

Chester: 

Eureka Cotton Mills 14,600 

Manetta Cotton Mills 18,620 400 

Springstein Mills 14,000 700 

Wylie Mills 20,160. 



96 

County. Name of Mill. Spindles. Looms. 

Colleton: 

Walterboro Cotton Mills 8,500 276 

Darlington : 

Darlington Manufacturing Co 51,392 1,464 

The Hartsville Cotton Mill.. 29,000 680 

Edgefield: 

Edgefield Manufacturing Company 5,000 320 

Fairfield: 

Fairfield Cotton Mills 25,000 500 

Greenville : " 

American Spinning Company 40,896 758 

Batesville Mill 2,600 

Brandon Mills 40,320 992 

Camperdown Mills 10,000 432 

The Carolina Mills 6,000 176 

Fork Shoals Manufacturing Co 5,248 

Fountain Inn Manufacturing Co 10,000 160 

Franklin Mills 10,000 288 

Huguenot Mills 6,400 293 

Mills Manufacturing Company 31,000 816 

Monaghan Mills 60,000 1,460 

McGee Manufacturing Company 3,200 44 

The Pelham Mills 10,752 ...... 

Piedmont Manufacturing Company 67,300 2,066 

F. W. Poe Manufacturing Co 61,312 1,520 

Reedy River Manufacturing Co 12,000 371 

Vardry Cotton Mills 4,320 

Woodside Cotton Mills 45,120 1,100 

Greenwood: 

Greenwood Cotton Mills 22,000 684 

Grendel Cotton Mills 33,152 834 

Ninety-Six Cotton Mill 20,608 474 

Ware Shoals Manufacturing Co-. 50,000 1,400 

Kershaw: 

Hermitage Cotton Mills 16,244 300 

Pine Creek Manufacturing Co 18,816 468 

Lancaster: 

Lancaster Cotton Mills.. 75,000 1,650 

Laurens : 

Banna Manufacturing Company 6,528 

Clinton Cotton Mills 36,000 900 

Laurens Cotton Mills 44,832 1,290 

Lydia Cotton Mills 21,972 438 

Watts Mills 40,320 940 

Lexington: 

Lexington Manufacturing Co 7,100 204 

Middleburg Mills 9,728 300 

Saxa-Gotha Mills , 10,000 242 



97 

County. Name of Mill. Spindles. Looms. 

Marion: 

Dillon Cotton Mills, 8,864 

Hamer Cotton Mills 8,192 

Maple Cotton Mills 18,864 ...... 

Marion Manufacturing Company 7,168 

Marlboro Cotton Mills 49,000 

Octoraro Mill Company 4,500 

Newberry : 

Glenn-Lowry Manufacturing .Co 33,000 900 

Mollohon Manufacturing Company. 29,952 736 

The Newberry Cotton Mills 28,000 900 

Oconee: 

The Cheswell Cotton Mills 10,272 362 

The Courtenay Manufacturing Co 23,136 648 

Seneca Cotton Mills 17,280 456 

Walhalla Cotton Mills 15,000 510 

Orangeburg: 

Orange Cotton Mills 5,500 

Orangeburg Manufacturing Co 14,000 400 

Pickens : 

Calumet Manufacturing Company 8,100 

Easley Cotton Mills 37,744 1,020 

Glenwood Cotton Mills 22,336 566 

Issaquena Mills 11,500 350 

Liberty Cotton Mills 9,764 286 

Norris Cotton Mills Company 18,288 452 

Pickens Cotton Mills 15,000 432 

Richland: 

Capital City Mills 15,000 300 

Columbia Mills Company 30,740 498 

Granby Cotton Mills 57,000 1,542 

Olympia Cotton Mills 100,320 2,250 

Palmetto Cotton Mills 10,000 280 

Richland Cotton Mills 26,112 720 

Spartanburg: 

Apalache Mills 20,000 500 

Arcadia Mills 14,624 344 

Arkwright Mills 20,256 604 

Beaumont Manufacturing Co 20,224 ! 252 

Clifton Manufacturing Company 86,800 2,000 

D. E. Converse Company 37,392 1,068 

Cowpens Manufacturing Company 17,000 406 

Drayton Mills 44,800 900 

Enoree Manufacturing Company 36,000 932 

Fingerville Manufacturing Co.... 9,000 

Inman Mills 19,421 500 

Jordan Manufacturing Company , 36 

Mary Louise Mills 4,352 

Pacolet Manufacturing Company 55,684 1,983 



County. Name of Mill. Spindles. Looms. 
Spartanburg: 

Pelham Mills 10,752 

Saxon Mills 30,464 745 

Spartan Mills 85,080 2,590 

Tucapau Mills 63,744 L696 

Tyger Cotton Mills 8,132 256 

Valley Falls Manufacturing Co 6,240 156 

Victor Manufacturing Company 59,176 1,427 

"Whitney Manufacturing Company 20,572 740 

Woodruff Cotton Mills 36,288 810 

Sumter : 

Sumter Cotton Mills 4,100 

Union: 

Aetna Cotton Mills 21,800 500 

Jonesville Manufacturing Company 15,000 240 

Lockhart Mills 51,000 1,604 

Monarch Cotton Mills 41,000 1,000 

Union Buffalo Mills Company 157,000 4,301 

York: 

Aragon Cotton Mills 10,240 280 

Arcade Cotton Mills 12,314 314 

Clover Cotton Mills 20,000 

Fort Mill Manufacturing Com- 
pany and Mill Fort 20,500 900 

Highland Park Manfacturing Co 8,192 836 

Manchester Cotton Mills 18,192 300 

Neely Manufacturing Company 3,500 

Victoria Cotton Mills 11,456 300 

Tavera Cotton Mills 5,000 

York Cotton Mills 13,264 

The Hamilton-Carhart Cott'n Mills 8,000 202 

Total 3,695,920 90,336 

Mills without looms manufacture yarns. 

KNITTING MILLS. 

Spindles. 
Excelsior Knitting Mills 5,624 

Most of the Knitting Mills buy their yarns for knitting. 

Spindles. Looms. 

Textile Mills 3,695,920 90,336 

Knitting Mills 5,624 

Grand total... 3,701,544 90.336 



ARTICLE XV.— Taxation of the Mills. 

The tax lists indicate the large proportion of annual State, county and munici- 
pal taxes paid by the cotton mills each year. It will, I am sure, surprise a great 
many people to know that the few cotton mills scattered here and there, and 
that are given very little credit by some people for the development of the State, 
are to-day paying fully one-half million dollars in taxes. In casual conversa- 
tions I asked a number of friends how. much taxes they thought the cotton 
mills paid, and none of them had any idea of the real amount, largely under- 
rating it. This matter of taxes is not cited with the view of claiming that the 
cotton mills or the corporations are being overtaxed. I have heard no complaint 
on this line, although the mill men believe that they pay their full quota of 
taxes towards the support of the State, county and municipal government, 
possibly more than their proportionate share. My purpose is simply to show how 
considerable a part of the economic wealth of the State the cotton mills now are 
and how much they contribute each year towards the maintenance of the Gov- 
ernment. It seems to be a very difficult matter to get accurate information, 
because of the indifference of the officials to answer inquiries. With the co-op sra- 
tion of Comptroller General Jones T have been able to collect very interesting 
information as to the taxes paid by toe cotton mills. His figures show that last 
year the cotton mills of South Carolina paid to the State and county authorities, 
through the county treasurers, $404,996 35. This does not take into account what 
was paid directly to the municipalities for city taxes or by the mill corpora- 
tions to the municipalities on account of school bonds when such collections were 
made through the city or town authorities. The collection of $404,996 35 was on 
account of the State levy, the three-mill constitutional tax, and the special 
school and county taxes collected through the county authorities. 

I have undertaken to gather statistics to supplement these with reference to 
the municipalities, and have received reports from a number of the towns and 
cities, but all have not replied. 

LOfC. 



100 



The statement I present, however, will be sufficiently complete to show what 
considerable portion of revenue is raised through the cotton mills. The following 
is a statement of the assessed valuations, together with the taxes annually col- 
lected from the cotton mills for State and county purposes: 

1906. 
Textile Industries. 



Counties 




,| $ 377,189| $ 6,782 25 



1,557,000| 

4,088,931| 

42,0001 

3,000| 

I. 



17,905 50 

52,130 54 

714 00 

36 00 



Abbeville 

Aiken 

Anderson | 

Bamberg | 

Barnwell | 

Beaufort | 

Berkeley * | 

Charleston ] 

Cherokee , | 

Chester .; .. . ,| 

Chesterfield | 

Clarendon | 

Colleton, (No Report) | 

Darlington , | 

Dorchester | 

Edgefield | 

Fairfield | 

Florence |... 

Georgetown | 4,460)' 60 61 

Greenville | 2,864,400| 43,728 15 

Greenwood | 720,970| 10,792 94 

Hampton | | 

Horry | | 

Kershaw 

Lancaster 

Laurens ....... 

Lee 



174,635| 1,746 35 
750,210| 13,180 15 
430, 999 1 6,846 98 

I 

3,300| 50 32 

!-.. 

374,580] 6,379 43 



50,736| 1,116 20 
109,200| 1,556 10 



. | 240,000| 



4,500 00 

469,560| U,621 61 

741,940| 13,339 28 

!• 



155,600) 
201,140) 
412,638| 
804,000] 
460,380! 
165,000| 
742,626| 



Lexington . 
Marion ..... 
Marlboro .. 
Newberry . 
Oconee .... 
Orangeburg 

Pickens 

Richland |" 2,353,709J 

Saluda ] | 

Spartanburg | 5,418,822| 82,349 85 

Sumter | 24,000| 300 00 

Union | 1,913,710| 37,263 18! 

Williamsburg | | 

York | 838,595| 12,520 19 

I 1 



1,946 90 

4,220 76 

7,609 80 

14,172 00 

8,060 98 

2,772 50! 

14,710 32 

26,633 46 



Totals .. ..| $26,493,330| $401,996 35 



101 

The following is a statement of the municipal taxes collected for 1906 as 
far as can be tabulated from replies to inquires: 

Sumter $ 354 00 

Bamberg 252 00 

Greenville 2,325 00 

Abbeville 2,538 61 

Columbia .... 10,419 50 

Spartanburg 12,300 00 

Laurens 3,81150 

Honea Path 654 93 

Yorkville 62150 

Camden 1,349 50 

Greenwood 4,904 66 

Anderson 8,022 96 

Newberry 5,300 79 

Pickens 50 00 

Chester 1,200 00 

Winnsboro 

Darlington 3,125 00 

Rock Hill 3,997 50 

$61,327 45 
Summary of taxes collected for 1906 as far as reported: 

State and county taxes $404,996 35 

Municipal 61,327 45 

Franchise tax to State 22,106 89 

Total $488,430 69 

In a number of instances cities and towns have granted municipal ex- 
emptions from taxation to encourage the establishment of such manufactur- 
ing plants. Some of these periods of exemption have not yet expired, and in 
other instances they are now expiring. 

The total assessed valuations of cotton mill enterprises for 1906 was $26,734,3^8. 
For 1907 the assessed valuations on which taxes will have to be paid by the cotton 
mills is $28,598,201. In 1906 the total taxable values in South Carolina were 
$249,534,442. Therefore the cotton mills of the State are paying on more than one- 
tenth of the gross taxable values in the State, to say nothing of their pro rata 
share as to valuation. In addition to this tax the cotton mills in 1906 have paid 
to the State Treasurer on account of the franchise tax $22,092 74, which is inde- 
pendent of the taxes based upon the assessed valuations. 

The cotton mills in South Carolina will this year, on account of the three-mill 
constitutional school tax, pay $85,791,003; and they will pay about $32,300 as their 
pro rata share of the special school district tax, to say nothing of the additional 
amounts they will pay for the support of schools in .their immediate communities. 
This does not take into consideration the voluntary contributions made by many 
of the mill corporations for the support of schools in their villages. The school 
matter, however, will be considered more in detail under the head of "welfare 
work." This particular article indicates that the few cotton mills in this State 
are now paying one-half million dollars of taxes for the support of the Govern- 
ment. 



ARTICLE XVI. -Children in the Mills. 

There has been very much more interest shown by the outside world in the 
matter of the employment of children in the cotton mills— more indeed than any 
other phase of cotton mill life. The employment of children has always been a 
matter of concern to the public at large. It is probably very well that there is 
so much interest in this phase of mill life. Most of those who have undertaken 
to present the matter of child labor have done so from the sensational or senti- 
mental view point, and very many of those who have undertaken to arouse a 
sentiment against the employment of children have added an appeal for subscrip- 
tions to a fund with which to prosecute this work against the employment cf 
children, but suggest no other means of the children making a livelihood. My 
purpose shall be to present the matter as fairlj- as I can, with due regard to the 
sentimental side; the injury that is done by the employment of children: the 
reason that these children are employed, and the law in South Carolina and 
how it is enforced; and what, if anything, can be done, or ought to be done, to 
minimize the employment of children. 

The statute law of South Carolina may be taken as a basis for what is regarded 
by some legislators, the majority of whom are patriotic citizens, and are certairJy 
beyond the control or influence of selfish mill officials, as proper employment of 
children in cotton mill work. It says that no child, unless there are special cir- 
cumstances necessitating work, should be employed who is not 12 years of age. 
The law has fixed the minimum age at which children should be employed, and 
there is no reason why such a law or such a limit should be questioned. It is not 
questioned. With this statute on the books it may as well be admitted that there 
are children, and a great many of them, employed in the cotton mills of South 
Carolina. It may also be stated that a great many of these children- are provided 
with a certificate from a magistrate, as required by the statute; it may also as 
well be admitted that there are a great many other children under the legal 
age working in the cotton mills without certificates. There is no use to mince 
words about this condition. Children under 12 are in the cotton mills, and a great 
many of them are there. There are net thousands upon thousands of children, 
as some of the agitators would have people believe, but there are a great many 
more in the mills than there ought to be. There are a great many more there 
than the mill officials want in the mills. But there are hot as many, by a great 
deal, as those who have never been inside a cotton mill represent. Such people 
allege that they got their information as to the employment of children from the 
census reports, which they manipulate to suit their own purposes. The best way 
to get at the actual facts is to visit ihe cotton mills. I went through at least 
twenty-five cotton mills; one of the chief purposes of my visits being to see with 
my own eyes and to hear with my own ears the facts relative to the employ- 
ment of children. In a recent magazine paragraph it is stated: "Sixty thousand 
jittle children are to-day toiling 1 in Southern cotton mills; little girls, eight years 
old, work through a twelve-hour nignt." In The Outlook this advertisement 
was printed: "The national child labor committee wants your help to rescue 
two million children from premature iabor. The sweat-shop, the coal mine, the 
glass factory, the silk mill, the cotton mill, the cigar shop, and the whiskey bot- 
tling works invade the school and rhe home to capture the American child. Our 
work is a campaign against race deterioration. Child labor is a menace to indus- 
try, education and good citizenship." 



103 

This may be a very good scheme Dy which to gather money for the commit- 
tee which is undertaking the work of minimizing child labor, but when one con- 
siders that, according to the census, out of the 1,750,178 children employed in 
"gainful occupations" there are 1,061,971 of this number engaged in agricultural 
pursuits, the force of the advertisement is very considerably weakened. It 
should be remembered, too, that of the total number of children reported who 
are engaged in "gainful occupations" 658,207 are children between 10 and 15, and 
501,844 are 14 and 15 years of age, and this number will have to be eliminated from 
the claims made in the advertisement In other words, almost 90 per cent of the 
number given as engaged in "gainful occupations" are eliminated, first, by being in 
agricultural pursuits, and then on account of being 14 years of age or over. And, 
if the whole thing were dissected in the same way as to the remaining number, 
it would be found that very few of the 2,000,000 are left— certainly in the South- 
ern cotton mills— for the GOOD offices of the committee that is raising general 
subscriptions for the work. The fact of the' matter is that the census report 
does not show more than 95,000 employed in the various occupations itemized in 
the advertisement, and yet it is claimed that 2,000,000 children are to be saved, 
and this 95,000 includes children of 14 and 15 years of age engaged in "gainful 
occupations." But my purpose is to take up the conditions in South Carolina as 
they exist in the cotton mills, and not to discuss the mining conditions of Penn- 
sylvania or the silk mills of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

As stated before, the trouble with so many of these sensationalists is that 
they do not begin at the right place. If they could only compare the conditions 
ot these families to-day with what they, were twenty years ago they would 
probably write in a more conservative strain. In a recent article by Mr D. A. 
Tompkins published in the Textile Manufacturers' Journal, he refers to the con- 
ditions in the South immediately after the war and reconstruction. And then he 
goes on to say: "The long day and low wages had no hindering influence— these 
were better than what had preceded. There was little thought as to who would 
be manager and who operative— the benefit would reach all. Here was a possible 
opportunity to escape the smouldering ashes of reconstruction and the pinching 
poverty of five-cent cotton. The problem was not one of seeking wealth, but of 
human welfare. It would have been peculiarly unnatural if the welfare of chil- 
dren should not have been left behind in this life-saving movement. They were 
not left behind, but, on the contrary, their welfare has been as assiduously 
pressed as any other phase of development in the South. It was regarded that 
the first prerequisites in the interest of children were Christian training in 
church and mental training in school. Prom the very beginning both these essen- 
tials have been provided, and are still provided. Any exception is so rare that it 
may be omitted. The age limit has been constantly increased, and the purpose 
has been, and is still, to replace better training as the mill trainiing is dis- 
placed." Then he goes on to pay: "The great benefactors are those who have 
formulated plans for the industrial development of the South, and accomplished 
the maintenance of regular work and a cash pay roll at regular intervals. "Whoever 
finds the way to keep people employed at profitable wages may depend upon it 
that they, in turn, will, in time, be more instrumental than anybody else in their 
own betterment. Working together, the mills and the operatives, there have 
been found ways in all the mills for building churches, establishing and maintain- 
ing schools, shortening the work day, increasing the pay per day, stopping night 
work, and bringing about other reforms by natural means , and without the 



104 

slightest advantageous influence from discussions of cotton mill conditions from 
outside." And still further he adds: "This much is certain with respect to cottoa 
mills— the present condition of the children, the youth, and the grown people 
about Southern cotton mills is infinitely better than it has ever been before; is 
improving at a rate that it never did before, and has better promise of ultimate 
satisfactory results than most other economic problems. I feel perfectly confident 
that when the philanthropist, the mill man and the legislator have together 
measured and balanced the various forces and influences that bear upon this sub- 
ject, the balance will be struck at about what is right." 

It is quite true that economic conditions in this State necessitated the em- 
ployment of children years ago, but things are very rapidly changing. First and 
foremost, because the operatives are becoming more independent, and are getting 
better wages and do not need the assistance of their children; secondly, because 
the labor conditions are improving, at least in so far as the skill of the individual 
help. The tendency of the mill owners is altogether against the employment of 
children. In 1903, responsive to the general demand for some child labor legisla- 
tion, South Carolina was among the first, if not the first; of the Southern States 
to enact a law prohibiting the employment of children under 12 years of age in 
the cotton mills, except in unusual instances. It would have seemed likely at 
that time, when the State was doing what it could to encourage the cotton mill 
industry, and which meant so much for the substantial development of the 
State, that such an Act might have been defeated, but the cotton mill presidents 
joined hands with Col J. Q. Marshall, the State Senator from Richland, who in- 
troduced the bill, and others to perfect it, and the statute law that is on the books 
to-day had the co-operation of many of the leading cotton mill presidents, not that 
they desired this or other special legislation against the mills only on the books, 
but because they felt that it was just to the children and to themselves that 
something of the kind be done. 

The following is the statute law of South Carolina upon the subject of child 
labor: 

"An Act to Regulate the Employment of Children in Factories, Mines and 
Manufacturing Establishments in this State: 

"SECTION 1. Be it enacted oy the General Assembly of the State of South 
Carolina, That from and after the first day of May, 1903, no child under the age 
of 10 years shall be employed in any factory, mine or textile manufacturing 
establishment of this State; and that from and after the first day of May, 1904, 
no child under the age of 11 bhall be employed in any factory, mine or textile 
establishment of this State; that from and after the first day of May, 1905, no 
child under the age of 12 years shall be employed in any factory, mine or textile 
establishment of this State, except as hereinafter provided. 

"SECTION 2. That from and after May 1, 1903, no child under the age of 12 
years shall be permitted to work between the hours of 8 o'clock P. M. and 6 
o'clock in the morning in any factory, mine or textile manufactory of this State: 
Provided, that children under the age of 12, whose employment is permissible, 
under the provisions of this Act, may be permitted to work after the hour of 8 
P. M. in order to make up lost time, which has occurred from some temporary 
shut-down of the mill, on account of accident or break-down in the machinery 
which has caused loss of time: Provided, however, that under no circumstances 
shall a child below the age of 12 work later than the hour of 9 P. M. 



105 

"SECTION 3. That children of a widowed mother and the children of a totally- 
disabled father, who are dependent upon their own labor for their support, and 
orphan children, who are dependent upon their own labor for their support, may. 
be permitted to work in textile establishments of this State for the purposes of 
earning - their support: Provided, that in the case of a child or children of a 
widowed mother, or of totally disabled father, the said mother or the said father, 
and in case of orphan children, the guardian of said children or person standing 
in LOCO PARENTIS of said children, shall furnish to any of the persons named 
in Section 4 of this Act an affidavit, duly sworn to by him or her before some 
magistrate or clerk of Court of the county in which he or she resides, stating that 
he or she is unable to support the said children, and that the said children are 
dependent upon their own labor for their support; then, and in that case, the said 
child or children of the said widowed mother and the said disabled father, and said 
orphan children shall not be affected by the prohibitions of Section 1 of this 
Act; and filing of said affidavit shall be full justification for their employment: 
Provided, further, that the officer before whom the said affidavit' shall be sub- 
scribed shall endorse upon the back thereof his approval and his consent to the 
employment of said child or children. Any person who shall swear falsely to the 
facts set forth in said Acts shall be guilty of perjury and shall be indictable as 
provided by law: Provided, further, that the employment of said child or children 
shall be subject to the hours of labor herein limited. 

"SECTION 4. That any owner, superintendent, manager or overseer of any 
factory, mine or textile manufacturing establishment, or any other person in 
charge thereof or connected therewith, who shall knowingly employ' any child 
contrary to the provisions of this Act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and for 
every such offence shall, upon conviction, be fined not less than ten dollars nor 
more than fifty dollars, or be imprisoned not longer than thirty days, at the dis- 
cretion of the Court. 

"SECTION 5. That any parent, guardian or other person having under his or 
her control any child, who consents, suffers or permits the employment of his or 
her child or ward under the ages as above provided, or knowingly or wilfully 
misrepresents the age of such child or ward of the persons named in Section 4 of 
this Act, in order to obtain employment for such child or ward, shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and for such offence shall, upon conviction thereof, be 
fined not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars, or be imprisoned not 
longer than thirty days in the discretion of the Court. 

"SECTION 6. That any parent, guardian or person standing in LOCO PA- 
RENTIS, who shall furnish to the persons named in Section 4 of this Act a cer- 
tificate that their child or ward has attended school for not less than four months 
during the current school year, and that said child or children can read and 
write, may be permitted to obtain employment for such child or children in any 
of the textile establishments of this State during the months of June, July and 
August, and the employment of such 3hild or children during the said months 
upon the proper certificate that -such child or children have attended school as 
aforesaid, shall not be in conflict with the provisions of this Act. 

"SECTION 7. That in the employment of any child under the age of 12 years 
In any factory, mine or textile manufacturing establishment, the owner or super- 
intendent of such factory, mine or textile manufacturing establishment shall re- 
quire of the parent, guardian or person standing in LOCO PARENTIS of such 
child an affidavit giving the age of such child, which affidavit shall be placed 



106 

on file in the office of the employer, and any person knowingly furnishing a fais3 
statement of the age of such child shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and for 
every such offence shall, upo;i conviction, be fined not less than ten dollars nor 
more than fifty dollars, or be imprisoned not longer than thirty days, in the 
discretion of the Court. 

"SECTION 8. That all Acts and ;>arts of Acts in conflict with the provisions 
of this Act be, and the same are hereby, repealed. 

'Approved the 13th day of February, A. D. 1903." 

I am convinced '.hat the cotton mill presidents of South Carolina are anxious 
to have this law enforced. They have not been as successful as they would like 
to be in this purpose. Generaly speaking the law is strictly enforced, but tli3re 
are instances where the law is not observed, and the greatest difficulty is in 
securing the co-operation of the parents-. 

The great trouble of the whole situation is that the Legislature has gone 
about the thing in the wrong way. It lias not passed a law looking to the regis- 
tration of marriages or births— though for a few years in ante-bellum times such 
a law was, I believe, on the statute books— and consequently the cotton mill offi- 
cials, who honestly and sincerely undertake to enforce the law, are very seriously 
handicapped. In fact they are almost entirely without means of properly carrying 
out the law. I have seen a number of instances where the parent insists, until he 
is black and blue in the face, that his child is 12 years old, so as to have the 3hild 
employed in the mill; when, as a matter of fact, the child is perhaps not more 
than 10, but the superintendent has been absolutely helpless without a marriage 
or registration law to ascertain the real age of any child. In some instances the 
superintendents are not over anxious to combat the progressive calculations of 
the parent and accept without question the age reported by the parent. They 
want the labor of the grown members of the family and often have to accept 
the undesirable child, whose age has been "forced" to get the remainder of the 
family to work in the mill. 

The question is, what are you going to do about it? The parent thinks that 
he has a perfect right to work his child if he wishes to do so, as he is supreme 
master, or at least thinks he ought to be. The law saj r s only under certain cir- 
cumstances should this child under 14 be employed. The law does not provide 
any way of ascertaining the age of the child when presented for employment. 
What is worst of all it does not require this child to attend school in or out of 
the mill, or does it provide any means of livelihood for the child that is depend- 
ent upon its work. Folks who are disposed to be sentimental about these things 
should always consider what a child or a helpless mother can do towards pro- 
viding a livelihood for herself and children if they do not go into the cotton mill, 
and what they themselves are doing, or are willing to do, to provide the bread 
and butter for the little ones who go into the cotton mills, and whom they want 
to keep out of the mills. It is a condition and not a theory that confronts the 
people of South Carolina as to what is to be done with these children. Almost 
one hundred and fifty thousand white people have gone to the cotton mills to 
earn an honest livelihood, not because they want to work as hard as mill labor 
reqiiires, but because they wanted to earn an honest livelihood! There are thou- 
sands of children who have to be ca.red for. Some time ago I wrote the Na- 
tional child labor committee to get an idea of its claims as to the number of 
children employed in the cotton mills in South Carolina, thinking that they had 
some definite information, or at least definite claim. 



107 

In a letter, dated September 11, 1907, I am advised that, "Our investigations 
in South Carolina have been very slight as compared with those undertaken in 
North Carolina and Georgia, and that the committee has made no claim as to the 
number of children under the age of 14 in the cotton mills in South Carolina." 
The committee, however, seems to be inclined to claim, based upon the calcula- 
tions of the number of spindles, that there are 30 per cent of Southern cotton 
mill operatives from 1 to 15 years of age. Or, in other words, they claim out of 
the 209,000 employed by Southern cotton mills that there are 62,200 under the age 
of 16 years in the South. 

Rather the claim is based on the census figures. The claim is that the census of 1900 indicates 
that 30 per cent, of the Southern Cotton Mill operatives are from 10 to 15 years of age. The claim is 
that if this percentage has not decreased, that there are sixteen thousand children from 10 to 15 
years of age in the South Carolina Cotton Mills. This is simply figuring at a distance. 

These figures are, in my opinion, very wide of the mark. At least so far as 
South Carolina is concerned. Within the last few weeks Commissioner E. J. Wat- 
son, clothed with official authority, has made an investigation and has had re- 
ports submitted to him of an authentic character. According to the reports 
filed in Mr Watson's office there are 54,877 employees in all the cotton mills of 
South Carolina, and out of this number there are 8,119 under the age of 16 (note 
he made the inquiry as to those under 16 and not 14) years of age, which is less 
than one-seventh or 14 per cent of the total number of employees, or less than 
one-half of the number claimed to be employed by the child labor committee. 
It may be well for the child labor committee to claim twice as many children in 
the mills as there really are, but it is just as well to accept the figures of Com- 
missioner Watson's office, which should be very gjluch more disinterested and 
impartial than any one-sided investigation. The figures given are for those under 
16 years of age— a high age limit. 

The child labor agitators are rather inclined to give out the impression that 
there is an increase in the number of children employed in the cotton mills, and 
suggest that this is due to the fact that the smaller families are drifting towards 
the farms while the larger families are going toward the cotton mills. Commis- 
sioner Watson, in his summary of the cotton mill conditions, shows that, ivhile 
there are 17,606 more employees in the cotton mills of South Carolina than there 
were two years ago, there are 716 less children under 16 years of age than there 
were two years ago, and only nine more children than there were seven years 
ago, when the number of employees was only 40,201. In other words, with an 
increase of 17,606 in the actual number of employees engaged in cotton mill 
work in this State, there has been a decrease in the number of children under 
the age of 16. This information should be regarded as reliable and more accu- 
rate than that promulgated by an interested organization. The United States 
census does not bear out the figures that are given by child labor organizations, 
and I have accepted the more recent statistics of a disinterested source. 

When I undertook this work I sent out a number of circular letters, ad- 
dressed to every cotton mill in the State. Among the inquiries was: The number 
of boys under 13 years of age, the number of girls under 13 years, and then I 
asked for the number of boys under 12 years of age provided with certificates 
permitting them to work, and for the number of girls under 12 years provided 
with certificates permitting them to work. I have sent out these blanks to all 
of the cotton mills in the State, not alone for this information, but for a great 
many other inquiries; but, unfortunately, a great many cotton mill officials evi- 



108 

dently did not care enough about such things to give a newspaper man the in- 
formation. About twenty of the cotton mills have made no response whatever to 
my inquiries, although they have been asked three times to reply, and a great 
many others have not answered all the questions. I have information, however, 
from ninety-five out of the one hundred and fifty textile industries in the State, 
more than three-fourths of the larger and more important enterprises having 
reported conditions as to the employment of children under the age of 12, as re- 
quested. The reports that have been received and are herewith given are, how- 
ever, typical and illustrative. I regret that every mill did not freely give the 
desired data. The figures tell their own story and are well worth careful study: 
The 'following is a synopsis of the reports made to me by the cotton officials 
themselves; compiled by counties, as to 

CHILDREN IN THE MILLS. 

County. Name of Corporation. 

Total num- 
ber of em- Boys un- Girls un- 

Abbeville: ployees. der 12. der 12. 

The Abbeville Cotton Mills 375 4 3 

Aiken : 

Langley Manufacturing Company .. 900 6 

Warren Manufacturing Company 485 1 

Anderson: 

Anderson Cotton Mills 900 6 6 

Belton Mills .^ 700 

Brogon Mills .' 600 4 

Chiquola Manufacturing Company 400 

Gluck Mills 300 .. 2 

Jackson Mills.... 225 

Orr Cotton Mills 700 8 6 

Pelzer Manufacturing Company 2,000 3 6 

Pendleton Manufacturing Company 58 

Riverside Manufacturing Company 225 

H. C. Townsend Cotton Mill 120 1 

Toxaway Mills 150 

Williamston Mills 250 

Bamberg: 

Bamberg Cotton Mills 150 1 

Charleston: 

Royal Bag and Tarn Company 400 

Cherokee: 

Gaffney Manufacturing Company 700 9 7 

Globe Manufacturing Company 50 

Chester: 

Eureka Cotton Mills 

Monetta Cotton Mills 800 

Darlington : 

The Hartsville Cotton Mill 350 4 1 

Fairfield : 

Fairfield Cotton Mills 375 



109 

County. Name of Corporation. Total number Boys un- Girls un- 

of Employees. der 12. der 12. 

Greenville: 

Batesville Mill 47 .. 1 

Brandon Mills 420 4 2 

Camperdown Mills 360 

The Carolina Mills 80 1 1 

Fork Shoals Manufacturing Co 60 

Mills Manufacturing Company .*.. 450 8 5 

Monaghan Mills 700 2 2 

McGee Manufacturing Company 125 

The Pelham Mills 300 2 1 

Piedmont Manufacturing Company 1,200 15 7 

Reedy River Manufacturing Co 225 3 11 

Vardry Cotton Mills 60 

Woodside Cotton Mills 600 4 3 

Greenwood: 

Ninty-Six Cotton Mill 400 

Grendel Cotton Mills 170 

Ware Shoals Manufacturing Co 600 

Kershaw: 

Hermitage Cotton Mills 225 1 

Lydia Cotton Mills 300 1 

Laurens: 

Watts Mills 360 

Lexington: 

Lexington Manufacturing Co 150 

Marlon: 

Hamer Cotton Mills 110 

Marion Manufacturing Company 100 

Marlboro: 

Marlboro Cotton Mills 1,100 

Octoraro Mill Company 50 

Newberry: 

Glenn-Lowry Manufacturing Co 400 4 5 

The Newberry Cotton Mills 582 4 3 

Oconee: 

The Cheswell Cotton Mills.... 280 6 4 

The Courtenay Manufacturing Co 400 

Seneca Cotton Mills 275 

Walhalla Cotton Mills.. 275 1 

Pickens: 

Easley Cotton Mills 500 3 

Glenwood Cotton Mills 300 

Liberty Cotton Mills 200 

Norris Cotton Mills Company 200 

Richland: 

Capital City Mills 150 

Columbia Mills Company 1,200 

Granby Cotton Mills 536 

Olympla Cotton Mills 1,000 

Palmetto Cotton Mills 187 

Richland Cotton Mills 350 



4 


.. 


L4 


4 


8 


7 


5 


4 



110 

County. Name of Corporation. Total number Boys un- Girls un- 

of Employees. der 12. der 12, 

Spartanburg: 

Apalache Mills 300 5 

Arcadia Mills 150 

Arkwright Mills 350 

Beaumont Manufacturing. Company 300 

Clifton Manufacturing Company 1,107 72 69 

D. E. Converse Company .* 375 10 7 

Drayton Mills 500 

Enoree Manufacturing Company 650 2 3 

Inm an Mills 191 

Mary Louise Mills 75 .-.. ^ .. 

Pacolet Manufacturing Company 765 23 9 

Saxon Mills 450 1 

Tacapau Mills 580 

Tyger Cotton Mills 175 2 1 

Valley Falls Manufacturing Co 100 

Victor Manufacturing Company 662 10 4 

Whitney Manufacturing Company 400 .. .. 

Woodruff Cotton'Mills 333 4 3 

Sumter: 

Sumter Cotton Mills 82 2 1 

Union: 

Aetna Cotton Mills 300 5 7 

Jonesville Manufacturing Co 450 

Union-Buffalo Manufacturing Co 1,700 6 

Lockhart Mills 750 6 8 

York: 225 .. 1 

Clover Cotton Mills 300 

Highland Park Manufacturing Co 350 

Mill Fort Mill 475 

Manchester Cotton Mills 325 

Neely Manufacturing Company ; ... 75 

Victoria Cotton Mills 225 1 1 

Tavora Cotton Mills 60 .. 

York Cotton Mills 200 

The Hamilton Carhart Cott'n Mills 125 

Arcade Cotton Mills 

Totals 38,860 289 206 

This table shows that in these ninety-five cotton mills there were 38,860 em- 
ployees of all ages. In these same ninety-five plants, employing 38,860 people, 
there are 289 boys under 12 at work, and there are 206 girls under 12 years of age 
reported, or a total of 495 children under 12, out of 38,860 as reported by the mills 
themselves as being at work. The presumption is that all these children are pro- 
vided with necessary certificates. 

The reports indicate the employment of 495 children under 12 out of 38,860, or 
about one out of every seventy-eight employees (1 1-4 per cent) Is a child 
under 12 years of age. 









Ill 

Five years ago, when I made my investigations for The News and Courier, 
which were printed in pamphlet form at the time, I reported that there were 
less than three children in every hundred under the age of 12 employed in the 
cotton mills. It can readily be seen what a great change there has been. The 
cotton mill presidents report 1 1-4 per cent of children under 12 in the cotton 
mills; one child under 12 out of every seventy-eight employees. No one has the 
right to question the honesty or the sincerity of these cotton mill presidents. 
It is not my purpose to do so, but I am free to say that I believe that there 
are more children in the cotton mills than this v percentage indicates. I should 
say that it would be altogether conservative to figure that there are 1,500 chil- 
dren under the age of 12 out of 54,877 persons employed in the cotton mills of 
South Carolina. I do not believe that there are any more, than this, and I also 
believe that the mill presidents are stating the facts as they have them, but that 
they are not in a position to get the necessary data to make an absolutely cor- 
rect report because of the fact that the parents do not give, and cannot be com- 
pelled to give, them the correct ages of their children, and for this the mill pres- 
idents are not to be blamed. 

In connection with figures and observations of Commissioner Watson it may 
be well to quote one paragraph from his recently published summary of cotton 
mill conditions. He says: "But, as I have said, the most gratifying revelation 
due to the gathering of these statistics is found in the fact of the betterment 
of the condition of the operatives, coupled with the more important fact that in 
two years' time the number of children employed in the mills, which had in- 
creased more than 700 during the five years prior to 1906, has decreased from 
8,835 to 8,119, notwithstanding the fact that the mills are working about 17,000 more 
people in 1907 than were employed in 1905. As to the enlargements now in pro- 
gress and the organization of new plants the figures speak for themselves." 

In a cotton mill, for instance, that I visited, that has 26,000 spindles, (and, by 
the way, the majority of children that are employed in cotton mill work are in 
the spindle room,) I do not think that anyone could say that there were more 
than six children under the age of 12. In another mill, with 62,000 spindles, where 
I made a careful estimate, I figured that an outside estimate would be ten chil- 
dren under the age of 12. In one of the largest cotton mills that I went through 
twice, so as to figure the number of children under 12 years of age, I think it 
would be fair to say that an outside limit would be twenty such children, and in 
this same mill the superintendent is doing everything possible to get rid of the 
children. At a 10,000 spindle mill the president and I went into a careful esti- 
mate of the number of children between the ages of 12 and 16, and we found 
that there were eighteen. The more I studied the question the more I became 
convinced that the tendency of the outsider' was to exaggerate the number of 
children in the mills, and the tendency of the mill presidents was to keep the 
children out of the mills, if for no other than for economic reasons. 

At the time of the passage of the child labor bill it was found necessary, 
on account of the actual condition of the parents and children themselves, in 
many instances, to employ a number of children under 12, according to the terms 
of the Act, and under this provision a number of forms of affidavits were pro- 
vided. In a great many sections of the State these forms were required, and 
there was no evasion of the law or desire to "get around it." The first of these 
affidavits is that of a widow, which reads as follows: 



112 

The State of South Carolina, 



County of 



Personally comes before me , who, being duly sworn, deposeth and says 

that she is a resident of County, and the mother of ; that she is a 

Widow and unable to support said child, , who is, are, dependent on his, her, 

labor for support 

Sworn to before me this day of , 190 . 



Magistrate. 
— County. 



The other was from a disabled father, and the third was from a person 
standing in the place of a parent. They read as follows: 

The State of South Carolina, 

County of : 



Personally comes before me , who, being duly sworn, deposeth and says 

that he is a resident of County, and the father of -; that he is disabled 

and unable to support said child, , who is, are, dependent on his, her, their 

own labor for support. 

Sworn to before me this day of , 190 . 



The State of South Carolina, 



Magistrate. 
County. 



County of 



Personally comes before me , who, being duly sworn, deposeth and says 

that he is a resident of County, and guardian or has charge or control of 

; that he is unable to support said child, — : , who is, are, dependent on 

his, her, their own labor for support. 

Sworn to before me this day of , 190 . 



Magistrate. 
— County. 



On the reverse side of all of these blanks is space for the endorsement of 
the magistrate granting the permit, which reads: I approve and consent to the 
employment of said child. (To be signed by the magistrate.) 



In the matter of school certificates, that are used during the summer holi- 
days, the usual form, and one which I found in very general use, was as follows: 

S. C, , 190 . 

This is to certify that has attended school for four months dur- 
ing the current year, and can read and write. 

Teacher. 

School Trustee. 

Magistrate. 



113 

The cotton mills of -the State, I believe, are really trying to enforce this law. 
They are having a great deal of trouble in doing so. In a great many communi- 
ties the requirement as to magistrate's certificates is rigidly enforced, and the 
cotton mill superintendents are doing all they can to have it strictly followed. In 
some communities it is not observed, and in one of the cotton mills that I vis- 
ited I found that they did not know that there was such a thing as a certificate 
by which a child under 12 was permitted to work in the cotton mill, although 
there were children under the age of 12 in that mill working. In Columbia I 
found that the statute law is enforced in the most orthodox fashion. In Green- 
ville there is a general compliance. In Spartanburg the enforcement is not so 
rigid, while in Newberry it is even more generally followed than in some of the 
other large mill communities. But recently there has been a more active interest 
in providing children under age with these certificates, and I think that within 
the last six months more of these certificates have been secured, where they 
were necessary, than were secured in the previous year or two. At a number of 
places I visited the magistrates and undertook to find out from them what class 
of people secured these certificates, why they were secured, how general was the 
demand for them. In Columbia the certificates are paid for at the rate of 25 
cents each, the fee being paid for by the parent. At other places I found that 
10 cents was required for each of the certificates, and in a great many other 
places they were not paid for at all, the work being voluntary on the part of 
the magistrate. In other communities there were no certificates at all, the mill 
presidents claiming that they had no children under the age of 12; this is not so 
certain and as I have already stated, in one mill they did not know of the existence 
or requirement of certificates, but the president said that he had posted himself 
as to the law and was satisfied that all the children at work came within the 
range of the statute. In Newberry Mr Cannon Cary Blease, the magistrate, 
talked the situation over quite fully with me, and said that he thought since 
February, 1905, he had issued six certificates. He was under the impression that 
the law was being generally observed and that there was no disposition to im- 
pose upon the children. He thought that the mill officials were enforcing the law, 
and he was particularly complimentary in his remarks relative to the character 
and tone of the help, and said that in the whole time that he has been magis- 
trate at Newberry, while he has issued some peace warrants, that no case 
against any mill operative had come to trial within his jurisdiction. Magistrate 
Stradley, at Greenville, said that there were only two or three mills in his juris- 
diction in Greenville, and that he found that he had issued one dozen certifi- 
cates for children to work in the mills. He was quite sure he had not issued more 
than this number to operatives. One leason why parents did not come to him 
for certificates was that "he would not allow himself to be imposed upon by 
idle parents, who wished to secure the labor of their children and themselves 
loaf." 

In Spartanburg Magistrates Coan and Kirby had not issued many certificates 
At Graniteville, for instance, when a family came to work in the mill Superintend- 
ent Rennie showed them the child law, which he has printed on large placards, and 
told them it was his purpose to strictly adhere to the letter of the statute, and 
if they had any children that came within the provisions that they must provide 
certificates. There are five or six certificates now on file at Graniteville. In 
a number of the mills they have certificates locked up in the safe, and the effort 
is to keep these certificates as up-to-date as possible; that is certificates that were 



114 

filed two years ago are now out of date, as, of course, the children have grown 
older, but in the meanwhile a new set of younger children have entered the mill 
who may require certificates. In some of the mills the superintendents will not 
employ children under 12 if they know it; and the general idea of the parent 
when he goes to the superintendent to seek places for his family is to say that 
all who are to be put in the mill are over 12— as this does not involve any ex- 
planations and brings about a larger pay envelope. In Rock Hill the certificate 
plan is adopted, and at Anderson the same rule is adhered to. At Piedmont 
within the last few months a careful investigation has been made as to the num- 
ber of children, and Superintendent Buchanan required at least fifteen in the 
mill to secure certificates, though they had been working prior to that time 
without certificates. These certificates were required as a protection to the mill, 
but, as every one understands, the matter is not left with the mill officials as 
to whether or not they are issued. 

At one of the cotton mills, which has recently had a revision of its certificates, 
so to speak, they told me that they had gone through the mill carefully and 
"cleaned up everything," and that with four new certificates they had provided 
every child in the mill with such credentials or certificates as were necessary, 
and that they really thought that these four ought to work in the mill; that 
they were better off in the mill than they would be idling outside. At several 
of the mills, removed from the cities, I found that they had a number of school 
certificates on file, and that there were more children employed with school 
certificates— that is, indicating that they had been at school during the regular 
school session— than there were of those provided with the other forms of statu- 
tory certificates. 

In my next letter I expect to deal with the difficulties of dealing with the 
child labor problem. 



ARTICLE XVII. -Children in the Cotton Mills (Continued). 

There are a great many children in the cotton mills that do not belong *.here, 
A visitor in going through many of the mills, if he were disposed to coilnt all 
of the children that he saw in the mill as working, simply because they were 
within the four walls, would do an injustice to the mills and to the parents. A 
number of children go into the mills with their mothers, because they have no- 
where else to stay. There are a great many mothers who will not consent to 
"farm their children out;" but take the children into the mills and allow them 
to "loaf" around, and in that way ke3p an eye on them; at the same time the 
child gets an idea of machineiw and of work. At a great many of the mills I 
found children in the mills that did nothing whatever, not even did they help their 
older brothers and sisters or their parents. As I have said, a great many of these 
children are taken into the mills to keep them out of harm, and in several in- 
stances the reasons were more or less pathetic. When I was at McCoil I saw a 
little fellow, who had on blue overalls and who appeared to be 5 years old, 
sticking his head out of a window. He seemed to be running around having a good 
time, and from the fact that he had his overalls on one would have supposed 
that he was at work. I went into the mill and, upon inquiry, found that he was 
an illegitimate child and that he was in the mill with his mother. I talked to 
the mother and she told me that she had to take her little boy into the mill, as 
the children in the mill village "would not leave him alone," that she had taken the 
boy there simply as a matter of self-defence. Now the question that agitators 
ought to consider is, What should be done with a little fellow like that? 

It must be admitted that a great many children do go into the mills who ought 
not to go there, and that they go under cover of not being on the pay roll. This 
is the most frequent evasion of the law. Tou may go into the mill and find a 
little boy or girl, 8 or 10 years old, and inquire of them what they are doing in the 
mill. They will tell you that they are net on the pay roll, but they are there sim- 
ply to help little "Willie" or little "Mary," as . the case may be. These children 
go into the mills when it pleases them to do so and go out when they have the 
inclination. They do help their older brothers and sisters, and sometimes their 
parents, and they do get an idea as to how to "put up" ends on a spinning 
frame, and they do get an ambition to go into the mills and earn wages for them- 
selves. Exactly how to put a stop to this custom of parents taking children into 
the mills to help at odd times, not allowing their names to appear on the pay 
rolls, is the most difficult matter to be reached by any law. The children are 
not actually employed, and neither they nor the parents are amenable to the 
law. 

For instance, at one of the largest cotton mills I heard that the president of 
the mill went through his weave room and found a husband and wife at work, 
with a little boy about 8 or 10 years of age assisting them. They were doing very 
well and making plenty of money, but the little boy had no one to stay with him 
at home while his parents were engaged in the mill, so they took him into the 
weave room to help fill the batteries, which facilitated them in their work. The 
president suggested that it did not look right for this little fellow to be in the 
mill and so advised the parents. The kindly talk did no good. Then the matter 
was taken up with the superintendent, and he was advised to talk to these two 



116 

weavers and suggest to them that any one going through the mill would get <he 
impression that this little fellow was at work, and that the parents were amply 
able to* care for the child, as they both earned good wages. The superintendent 
talked to the father, and the next thing they heard was that these two weavers 
had gone to another mill. The matter was taken up with the president of the mill 
to which this couple had gone, and he was asked if the child was in the mill. The 
reply was that he WAS THERE, he did not appear on the pay rolls, and that 
he would decline to interfere, and did so. This is a typical illustration of how 
the parents look upon any suggestion as to keeping their little ones out of the 
mill 

If anybody wants to get at the real bottom and the actual facts of this mo- 
mentous question of child labor, the first thing he ought to do is to go to the 
children themselves and inquire why they are at work in the mills. None of 
them work because they are partial to work. When I went to the Spartan Cotton 
Mills, which is one of the oldest and ?nost successful in the South, among other 
things which I asked Mr Walter S. Montgomery, the head of the mill, was: How 
many children he had in the Spartan IVEills under 12 years of age? He told me 
he really did not know, and he suggested that we go through the mill and inquire 
for ourselves. And he was as much interested in the inquiry as any one could 
have been. I found that there were about twelve children under 12 who were at 
work because of the summer vacation, having attended some one of the public 
schools during the remainder of the session, and they were entitled to work 
under the statute during the summer months. The first little fellow that we met 
was Tom Crouch, who said that he was in the fourth grade of the Magnolia 
Street School. His name had appeared on three pay rolls, and he told us he was 
11 years of age and was earning fifty cents a day. He was going back to school 
as soon as the session began. The next little fellow that we talked to was 
Frank Bishop. He is making fifty cents a day sweeping. He is 11 years old and 
is in the third grade at the Magnolia School. He has been in the mill before 
under similar circumstances. The next little one we talked to was Flora Tim- 
merman. She said she was 13 years of age, but neither Mr Montgomery nor I 
thought that she was over 10. She has recently come to the mill from North 
Carolina, and the family evidently needed the help. The next was Tomnry Willis, 
who was 8 years of age. He told us his name did not appear on the pay roll, and 
that he was in the mill helping his sister. Tommy was in the first grade of the 
public schools and was "doffing." Another little chap we talked to was Monroe 
Rolling, who had come from Madison County, N. C. He said he had fever last 
winter in North Carolina, and that he had been at Spartanburg Mills about eight 
months. When asked how old he was he said, "He had been 12 a long time." 
Monroe had not been to school in Spartanburg, but expected to do so later on. 
His father works in the Spartan Mills. There were a number of instances of the 
same class. Mr Montgomery's own little boy, a bright lad of 13, was at work in 
the mill, being ambitious "to learn the business." 

At Piedmont I made considerable inquiry along this , line and talked to a 
great many of the children. Corrie Holcomb, for instance, who was running four 
sides and earning forty-six cents a day, said she did not know her own age. 
I understood that her family had recently come to the mill from North Carolina, 
and that the head of the family was not earning enough to support his family, 
and that he had been given permission to let some of the younger members of 
his family work in the mill until he was able to support them. The usaal custom 






117 

with parents who come to the mills, alter they are able to do so, is to take their 
younger children out of the mills and send them to school. The Holcomb child is 
provided with a certificate, as the father is not vigorous. Young- Frank Deop- 
par-d said he was 12 years old. He has a good, strong face and a bright eye- 
just such a face as would appeal to the sensational writer. When I asked hira 
if his father was living he did not seem to understand what "father" meant; 
and then I asked him about his "daddy," and he told me that his father "pours 
up yarn." The little boy told me he was 12 years of age and seemed to be per- 
fectly happy. He is working because his labor is necessary to support the family. 
Another little boy that I talked with was Henry Looper. He is 10 years old and 
he has a blind father. He is provided with a certificate and earns fifty cents a 
day. It may be very well for those interested in these things to figure in what 
other class of labor this little fellow, only 10 years of age, with a blind father, 
could work to earn a livelihood and help his blind father. And then, close by 
him, was the little Freeman boy, who was helping to support his widowed 
mother. He was engaged in the lightest kind of work— in taking little wooden 
bobbins from one box and putting them into another. 

The little Howard boy told me that his father was farming this year, and that 
he was the only one of his family in the mill. I understood that he was working 
in the mill to help his father, who was not in the best of health. He was earning 
fifty cents a day. 

When I was going around the mill I met Arthur Duncan, who was raised by 
a widowed mother, and had been in the mill since he was 6 or 7 years of age. 
He is to-day as robust a specimen as can be found, and **■ an overseer in a room, 
earning $3 50 a day. What other occupation would have provided the same oppor- 
tunities? 

At Pelzer there are children at work, and at this mill I made some inquiry 
as to the effectiveness of the excellent school system. Otis Davis, who told me he 
was 11 years old, was at work because his mother thought that he was oid enough 
to help earn a livelihood for the family, and she needed his assistance. And 
Annie Aughtry was engaged in light labor to help her widowed mother. She told 
me she was nearly 13, but she does not look it. Coming out of the room, where 
I talked with young Davis and Annie Aughtry, I found a little fellow sitting in 
front of the dra wing-in frame, who had only one leg. He had lost his other leg 
with "white swelling." Rice Henry was his name and he was being paid $1 a 
day for this work. In passing I want to say that, in my collection of data. I 
have the autographs of quite a number of these children, and about the only 
children I found who could not write their names, and in connection with it some 
little sentence that I asked them to put on my pad, were those who had come 
into South Carolina from neighboring States. 

At Pelzer every child I asked to write on my tablet could do so. At Monoghan 
all that I asked could write, with the exception of one little chap, who told me 
he had come from Augusta, and he seemed to be such a trifning little boy that I 
doubt if he ever learns anything. 

At Orangeburg, where I belieive the records indicate that there are no children 
under 12 working, I found Edith Price, who said she was 12 and seemed to be very 
insistent upon that point, but I have no idea she is as old as that. She told me 
that she was working for some one else, and that she earned her money in that 
way. One of the prettiest little children I saw in the cotton mill was little 
Eddie Neal, at Newberry. He said he was 9 years of age; that he could not 



118 

write. His parents had just moved into the mill community from the country. 
This little fellow was the oldest of the children, and the father is earning $1 a day, 
and the little boy makes fifty cents a day. He had not been at school, and when 
I asked him about his mother, with tears in his eyes he told me he had no 
mother. The little boy was evidently trying to help his father. There were 
younger ones at home. The father and his little boy were earning $1 50; and he 
told me that just as soon as "papa" was able to do so that he expected to send 
him (Eddie) to school. The chances are that this little fellow would never have 
seen the inside of a school if he had begun work on the farm. In passing I want 
to say- that side by side with this little fellow was the little thirteeen-year-old 
boy of Superintendent Davis, who was hard at work during the summer months 
trying to familiarize himself with cotron mill work. Then' there was Bessie Lee 
Fulmer, who was bright as a sunbeam. She wore a rose in her dress and told me 
she did not know her age. 

At McColl's I talked to children whose names did not appear on the pay roll. 
At Whitney I talked to a little girl, named Daisy Stanley, who told me she was 
6 years old. Her name does not appear on the pay roll and she really does very 
little work. Her mother works in the spool room, earning $1 10 per day. She has 
three daughters, one 12, one 16 and little Daisy, who is 6. The three girls all go 
into the mill. The elder girls, aged 12 and 16, earn seventy-two cents per day, and 
little Daisy goes into the mill with her mother, so that she will be out of mis- 
chief. She appears to like the idea of going around and helping her older sisters. 
Such instances are typical. I may be asked, What becomes of the home in the 
meanwhile? Such cases as this are frequent. A mother, with her family of 
daughters, has to make an honest livelihood. While some one may hold up his 
hands in "holy" horror at the idea of a little six-years-old child going into the 
cotton mills, the important question is, What would this Stanley family do if 
they did not go into the cotton mills, and how would they maintain their respect- 
ability if this avenue were not open to them? The mother when she goes home 
at night has to cook for the following day, and there is no one to leave at home 
to take care of the younger members of the family. This is one of the unfortu- 
nate phases of life where there are so in any women left in this condition, and 
where there are so many orphan children who have to be provided with some 
means of living. There are fortunately few orphan homes in South Carolina, but 
even the orphan home has its disadvantages, and there are limitations upon ad- 
mission which it might not be possible to comply with. 

A question that should be considered in this connection is whether or not the 
children are better off in the mill than outside, where they would be gettiag into 
mischief. There is no law in this State requiring children to go to school; and 
in looking at this child question it ought to be remembered that the State does 
nothing to take care of the children, and that the cotton mills, on the other hand, 
are not only providing means of making a livelihood, but that they are offering 
a training for them to become good citizens and bread winners, and that the 
mills themselves have for years been urging and imploring that a compulsory 
education law be passed. More than this, the cotton mills almost without excep- 
tion either support the schools IN TOTO out of their own resources, or the 
addition of the cotton mill property to the taxable values has given sufficient 
revenue to the support of schools in ev3ry mill community. But there is now no 
adequate means of forcing these children to go to school or to keep them out cf 
mischief. Many advocate the early training of children, but the important ques- 



119 

tion ought to be what is to become of such children as are now in the mills if 
they are forced out and into idleness— the State does nothing-? 

At Whitney there is also an interesting little lad, named Ike Messner. He did 
not know his age, but I judged he is about 6 years old. He helps his older brother, 
and, although he did not know how old he was, he seemed to be able to chew 
tobacco; and unfortunately this habit is very common among the children in the 
cotton mills. The older brother runs four sides and Ike helps "keep them up." 

At McColl there were perhaps a dozen children under the age of 12. Among 
them the little Crowlson boy, who helps his sister; or Johnson Crozer, or Prank 
Stokes, who told me he was 13, and who really was about 9 years of age, and 
who seems to be able to chew tobacco; or Esther Stanton, who told me she would 
be 12 years old next month; or Annie Bryant, who is 11 years of age, and runs 
four sides in the spinning room. 

The story is very much the same all over the State, and I do not think that 
it is worth while to go into the history of each of the cases of children under 
12 years of age. I believe that there are 1,500 of such cases in South Carolina, 
and I also believe that there is a reason for each of these cases. There are some 
cases, but they are rare — very rare — where the parents impose upon their children, 
but these are so exceptional that they need not be counted against the cotton mills, 
because if they are really known the mill officials do not allow the children to 
contiunue at work, and the blame attaches to the worthless parents. 

As a matter of fact the mil] presidents do not want children in the cotton 
mills. There are reasons why they consent to the employment of children. In 
the first place, under the system in this State, the families are employed rather 
than the individuals, and with the demand for labor that exists here the mill 
superintendent does not antagonize the head of the family when seeking employ- 
ment if he should undertake to "run in" some of the junior members of his 
family; but, as I have previously stated, this disposition to work the younger 
members of the family is growing less and less because of the increase of wages. 

Prom a purely economic standpoint the cotton mill presidents do not wish to 
employ children. This ought to be a plain proposition to any one who will take 
the time to think it over. A child under 12 shears or 13 years of age does not 
understand, and cannot be expected to appreciate, the importance of economy of 
time or the vice of wastefulness. The children that are in the mills are employed 
in the spinning room, as it is here that the most of the cotton waste is made, 
and it is very largely due to carelessness and indifference of children. Where an 
end of cotton that is being spun breaks it "wads up" on the frame and this 
cotton then becomes waste. Ordinarily the cotton that is so wadded ought to 
be turned back to be put through the ;n.anufacturing process again, but children 
that have no appreciation of the value of cotton or its cost often throw this wad 
of cotton on the floor, thereby making it worthless, or stick it in their pockets, 
so as to avoid criticism by the boss: and when they go out of the mill throw it 
on the ground, and in that way the mill has an absolute loss of the cotton. If 
the cotton is worked over, which ought to be done, there is an additional cost to 
the mill in this duplication of work, and if it is taken out of the mill and thrown 
on the ground by careless children, it involves, of course, a total loss of the cot- 
ton, which, as every one knows, is th3 most valuable and expensive part of the 
manufacturing process. If the cotton is thrown on the floor it becomes "sweep- 
ings," which is sold at one or two cents a pound. The waste of cotton by care- 
less or thoughtless children, as can readily be appreciated, is considerable. 



120 

It is an old maxim of the successful cotton mill that "the cheapest labor 
does not mean the largest dividends," and the "up-to-date" cotton mill presi- 
dent fully appreciates this saying; and the desire of all cotton mills to-day is to 
keep the young women in the spinning room and to wean them off from the desire 
to go into the weave room. For instance, Mr Lyons, superintendent at the Orr 
Cotton Mills, in Anderson, told me that he wished very much that there were 
no such thing as children in the cotton mills, and that if he could get rid of 
the children altogether that life would be very much happier for him. This is a 
universal feeling. When I was going through Piedmont Cotton Mills I thought I 
would make some observations along this line. I noticed on the frame of one 
little girl, Virgie Patterson, that out of one hundred and twelve spindles on on6 
side of the frame there were fifteen ends down, and this meant that the cotton 
was "batting up" or wadding on each of these broken ends. If an older person 
had been working on this same frame there would not have been so much loss of 
mechanical energy nor so much cotton to go through a second manufacturing 
process; but this is the ordinary result. This little girl was running only four 
sides, and she was in the mill because the family was so large— there were 
eight children— that even a little girl of 10 had to go into the mill to help feed 
the hungry mouths. What else could she have done to earn an honest livelihood? 

At Union the superintendent went over the disadvantages of working children 
in the mill, and in addition to the other reasons that are generally stated 
against the employment of children, told me that the bane of his life was keep- 
ing the children away from the elevators. The older help give better results and 
is much more easily managed. 

President Cleveland, in talking over the child labor proposition, told me that 
there was not a cotton mill president in the world who would not rather em- 
ploy grown girls and boys in the spinning room than reckless and indifferent 
children. The difference in the wages between children and grown labor is more 
than equalized by the increased output and the reduction of waste. 

The cotton mills in South Carolina employ 90 per cent of the children "under 
age" in the spinning room; 10 per cent are engaged in sweeping and in the picking 
of the "frazzled ends" from the manufactured product in the cloth room, and a 
few are engaged in filling batteries. 

Superintendent Buchanan, of Piedmont Mills, in talking over the child labor 
situation, said: "There were some children employed at Piedmont, and that he 
was satisfied that, after more than twenty years' experience in the mill, and his 
observations both here and elsewhere, that the cotton mills would always have 
children," and that "the best thing for the mill people to do, and for those inter- 
ested in the welfare of the children, was to see that the best possible was done 
for them." I do not think there is any difference of opinion as to the inadvisa- 
bility of employing children, even those of more than 12 years of age, in night 
work; and if there are any children even under 16 employed in night work it did 
not come within my notice. At McColl. where there are ninety people employed 
in night work, practically all are over 18, and I think the majority are over 2L 
None of the larger mills in this State run at night— not one— and it is all twaddle 
to talk about children working twelve hours at night. It is not truo as to 
South Carolina. Only a few yarn mills run at night, and they have grown help 
for what little night work they do. 

Superintendent Wilbur, who has been engaged in cotton mill business both 
here and in New England, has very decided views on the subject of employing: 



121 

children, and believes that the time is coming when the cotton mills in South 
Carolina will not, for their own good, employ any children whatever; and he thinks 
that this condition will work itself out, as have so many other things in the cotton 
mill industry in this State. 

In the "Y" mills that manufacture yarns, and there are perhaps twenty yarn 
plants in the State, there is no weave room. The weave departments generally 
utilize the older and more advanced help; therefore where the cotton mill has no 
weave room there is no employment for the advanced men and women in the 
weave departments, as yarn mills have no weaving. This is the case in a great 
many of the yarn mills in the Pee-Dee section and York County; and in some 
mills in the Piedmont section. Therefore in yarn plants this grown help goes into 
the spinning and spooling departments, and in that way, at McColl's, for instance, 
there is a tendency for employing grown men and the demand for labor is not 
so great in the spinning room as to necessitate the employment of many children. 
The children are generally used in the spinning rooms, and when men or women 
can be had they are preferred. 

Whether the children have been told to say that they are 13 years of age or 
older, I found a very general disposition on the part of the very little fellows to 
claim that they were 13 years of age or older, although there was very good 
reason to believe that they were younger. Until the State of South Carolina 
goes about this thing in the right way the cotton mill presidents will have no 
way of protecting themselves against misstatements as to the ages of children. 
Time and time again the cotton mill presidents, through their association, and 
individually, have appealed to the General Assembly, asking that they pass a 
marriage license law and provide for the registration of births and deaths, but 
for some reason this has not been done. Until it is it ought to be as plain as the 
noonday sun that there is no way for the mill president, or if there should ever 
be an inspector for him, to ascertain definitely the ages of children other than 
to accept the statements of the parents, and this is now done. A great many 
of the cotton mills, in fact most of them, now require affidavits to be filed at 
the office by parents, stating that they have no children under 12 years of age 
engaged in the mill, and there is no reason why a mill president or superintend- 
ent should go back of such a return. 

A great deal has been written about the grinding process of the cotton mills, 
and how the mills are working the body and soul out of the little ones who 
may have to go into the mills. But, as I have already pointed out, the truth 
has been grossly exaggerated time and again. Those children that do go into 
the mills, as has already been said, go into the spinning department, and the 
work there is lighter than elsewhere. Most of the boys who are in the mill, at 
least the little fellows, are engaged in what is known as "doffing"— and if 
there is any light work about the cotton mill it is "doffing." On my visit, which 
was in the summer time, at almost every mill there were a number of boys 
outside playing base ball, and the cotton mill that did not have enough "doffers" 
to make up two ball teams was not very large. The process of "doffing," in 
which the boys are employed, is in taking off the bobbins from the spinning 
frames after they have been filled with yarn and replacing them with empty 
bobbins, on which another supply of yarn can be run. Of course, after the 
empty spool has been put on the frame there is nothing to do until that spool 
has been filled, and, while this mechanical process is going on the "doffer" has 
absolutely nothing to do. They generally go outside of the mill and play. The 



L22 

intervals between doffing vary according to the size of the yarn that is spun at 
any particular mill. The coarser the yarn the quicker the bobbin is filled, and 
the finer the yarn the slower the process of filling, and consequently the greater 
intervals between "doffing." With No I yarns, for instance, it takes twenty-five 
minutes for the bobbin to fill. Bach doffer has three frames to fill, which he 
can do in about ten minutes; therefore he has the interval in which to "loaf." 
With No 18 yarns the frame will run three hours without the spools being 
changed, and the boys get around in an hour and a half, and have the remain- 
ing hour and a half in which to play. 

At a mill such as Chiquola, where they make print cloths, the boys doff about 
four times a , day and have the balance of the day in which to play. Most of 
the mills in this State are engaged in manufacturing this class of goods. At 
Monoghan I spent about an hour in a ;-oda water establishment and talked to 
several of the boys there as to their doffing. They told me that they averaged 
about seventy-five cents a day, and the four boys with whom I talked "doffed" 
thirty-two frames, with two hundred and twenty-four bobbins to the frame. It 
took them seventy-five minutes in which to change the spools and they ran for 
four hours; altogether they doffed three times a day and had the balance of the 
time for themselves. 

They reported for work at o'clock in the morning and got off a few minutes 
later. On No 27 yarns it took twenty-five minutes to doff, and the frames run 
in the neighborhood of four hours, in that way giving the boys forty minutes 
out of every hour and ten minutes in which to play. 

At Piedmont the warp was "doffed" every two hours, and it took thirty min- 
utes in which to "doff," and the filling was "doffed" every fifty minutes, and 
half of the time being rest. But the same thing applies wherever there is a 
cotton mill, and it is needless to emphasize the fact that the mechanism of che 
spinning department is such that it takes time for the bobbins to fill, and during 
that time there is absolutely nothing for the "doffers" to do except to play. The 
beys engaged in "doffing," therefore, work only half of their time, and they 
easily earn seventy-five cents a, day. If there is anything else in which Lhey 
can engage that is lighter, or at which they can do better, it certainly has not 
been found in this State. 

At Pacolet I talked to several boys, among them Bachelor Floyd and George 
Ladd, who were engaged in "doffing." Floyd told me that he only doffed once 
in every six hours; and Ladd, whom I met on the bridge, was waiting on a com- 
panion, Dock Wells, to go to the "wash hole" between "doffiing" periods. And yet 
some folks would have you believe that boys in the cotton mills do hard work. 

So far as the work with the girls is concerned, all they have to do is to take 
the broken ends of thread and roll it together. It is the lightest kind of work 
and the only trouble is the confinement in the mills. So far as I have been able 
to ascertain, this is really not hurtful any more than any other class of work 
would be. 

I want to say here in a great many instances the children themselves want 
to go into the cotton mill. They seem to like the idea of working and of earn- 
ing their own livelihood. 

In a great many communities wherever the children are sixteen years of age 
they begin to pay board to their parents and to keep the balance of their money. 
I talked to a number of children, and on inquiry found them inclined to go into 
the mill for work. I remember distinctly talking with a little boy, Alfred Gos- 



123 

nell. He said he was only ten years of age, and he thought he ought to be al- 
lowed to go into the mill, as his older brother, Weyman, was at work, and he 
thought himself just as big a boy as Weyman, but the mother was sending Al- 
fred to school, and evidently Alfred was chafing because he could not go into the 
mill and draw wages. 

As I have said before, the cotton mill officials are generally disposed to fol- 
low the statute law. They do not like legislation directed against the mill in- 
terests; they think they ought to be let alone, and I really think that they 
would be better off and that conditions would be better if they were let alone. At 
the recent session of the General Assembly the wisdom of the law makers sug- 
gested that a statute should be passed restricting the number of hours of labor to 
sixty hours per week. The wisdom of such a law and the effect of it was ques- 
tioned, but it has been accepted in good faith and is being carried out. The first 
reduction in the hours went into effect the first of July, and without a murmur 
it was accepted by the cotton mills. After the law was passed two of the best 
law firms in the State advised that from a constitutional viewpoint, as brought .out 
in the Baker case, which I think originated either in New York or Massachusetts, 
the law would not stand the test of the Courts, as it applied to only one class of 
workers, namely, the cotton mills. These two law firms, although of opinion that 
the law would not stand the test of the Courts, as a matter of policy advised that 
the matter be not carried to the Courts. Without a dissenting opinion the cotton 
mills agreed to abide by the law, however discriminating and however hurtful to 
their interests they thought it. They accepted the judgment of the General As- 
sembly largely because they thought that this would be the end of legislation that 
would tend to interfere with them in their output or their control of the help sit- 
uation. 



ARTICLE XVIII. The General Scope of "Welfare Work." 

Perhaps most notable development in the cotton mills has been what Is known 
as "Welfare Work." This phrase Is probably of recent coinage, and it may not be 
altogether understood, particularly as there Is such ;i general and unfortunate 
misunderstanding as to what <•< > 1 1 « »i i mills are really doing both in an industrial 
and in b benefloia] way. The farmers and small land owners have a very keen 
appreciation of how the cotton mills have helped them by 6reating markets and 
Increasing demands Cor their ootton, ami truck, eggs and poultry; but the people 
generally, not only t hose outside of South Carolina, but our own people, because 
of their hick of information and because they do not themselves go into the 
subject, do not appreciate in the smallest degree the great good that the cotton 
mills have done in this State as civilizing Influences, and are planning to do. 

It seems to have been taken as a matter of oourse that the cotton mills should 
have spent hundreds and hundreds of : hoi i sands of dollars to eduoate the children 
in their mill eomm unit ios, and it seems now to be taken as a matter of course 

that they should be spending money with a lavish hand for the building of 
libraries, lyoeumS, bowling alleys, churches, and even swimming pools. The new 
hold has been entered with perfect willingness by the cotton mill presidents. There 
has been no compulsion, and there never has been any agreement with the em- 
ployees, through any ehannel, that the cotton mills should spend thousands of 
dollars for the building of churches or school houses, and now places of amuse- 
ment, for their help. The custom has .-amply grown of Its own accord, and is an 
absolutely voluntary offering on the part of the cotton mill officials, who have de- 
tenu ined of their own accord to share largely with their employees whatever measure 
of prosperity they have enjoyed. It is. therefore, all the more to be commended. 
II am one should go to the mill community unci talk to the people, and go into 
the very heart of the situation, he would find a very much keener ippreolation 
of what the schools and churches and libraries have done Cor these one hundred 
and twenty-flve thousand people who have gone to the mill communities than they 
would imagine without carefully inquiring into the situation. The operatives 
are. as a rule, an appreciative class, and that in my opinion largley accounts for 
the liberal and incronsin;; expenditures for what is known as "Welfare Work." 
Too muoh of it cannot well he done, and stockholders will have to forego dlvi- 
dends'and instead see this "Welfare Work" progress. 

There are various and lnoreaslng means of doing this work, and it has to be 
done with some degree of care, economy and delicacy, so that it will not be" 
hurtful. It is not regarded by the operatives, and less so by the officials, as a 
charity, and even charity OS I go amiss by being undertaken without sy3tem. 
It is a very diffloull matter, In Cacl i mighl saj 11 is impossible, to give any 
adequate Idea of the volume of "Welfare Work" undertaken by the cotton mills 
of this State, Some of them are doing it on a very much more extensive icale 
than Others, while main- are spending a very liberal portion of their earnings 

in this work, and feel it Is s very good Investment; others spending nothing what- 
ever. The fact of the matter is that there is some disagreement, of rather .m 
argumentative nature than otherwise, as to whether the cotton mills should 

undertake the "Welfare Work" upon the Intensive plan that some of the cotton 
mill officials advise. The most pronounced and strongest advocate, and one whose 



125 

actions follow in line with his words, in this new development of "Welfare 
Work" is Mr Thos F. Parker, president of the Monaghan Cotton Mills, of 
Greenville. He not only advises the spending of corporation money for such vvork, 
but he and his family have been lavish in the expenditure of their personal 
funds. Capt Smyth has also done a greal deal of "Welfare Work" in a busi- 
ness-like way and is one of the pioneers. Another of this school is Mr Hamilton 
Carhart, who has recently invested in this State, and has a new plant at Rock 
Hill. From Mr Parker on down there are various views on this subject of how 
far the mill corporation should go into the matter of providing amusements and 
pleasures for the help, and to what degree operatives should depend for such 
pleasure upon their own initiative. In one mill community I had a talk with one 
of the most kind-hearted and successful cotton mill presidents. He told me that 
he was firmly convinced that the operatives had an idea that the money that 
was spent on "Welfare Work" by the corporations was subtracted from their pay 
envelopes, and that the operatives themselves would rather have the money go 
directly into their pay envelopes than into the amusement halls and entertain- 
ments, and his view was that whatever work of this kind was done for mill 
operatives should be of a personal nature, so that whenever the hat is passed 
around for subscriptions his name is certain to appear. 

In some of the mill communities I found that the mill corporations made it 
an unwritten rule to subscribe to all church and other similar funds, and did so 
upon a basis of one-tenth; that is, if the members of any given denomination 
wished to build a $2,000 church the corporation would contribute the land on which 
to erect the building and $200 in cash. 

South Carolina has prospered for a great many years, and contemporaneous 
with the mills has been the development of the State at large. Ten years ago 
the rural schools were not what they should have been and not what they are to- 
day. At that time the schools provided by the cotton mills, such as at Clifton, 
Pelzer, Pacolet, Graniteville, Anderson, Gaffney, Greenwood, Newberry, Converse, 
Whitney and other of the older cotton mills, stood out as beacon lights, and were 
very much more serviceable and potential than they probably are to-day, when 
there are so many good schools all over the State. But from the very outset 
the cotton mills were conspicuous in their leadership in providing gpod schools.. 
When Mr W. E. Lucas, for instance, built the Laurens Cotton Mill one of the first 
things he was wise enough to do was to suggest to the King's Daughters that 
he would take care of his own help, and he has always done so. He did this 
because he was satisfied that well-meaning outsiders did not understand how to 
deal with the help and would be imposed upon. He promptly built a first-class, 
high-grade school and started it at work. Encouraging and starting schools has 
been the policy of the mills ever since the early 50's, when William Gregg deter- 
mined that no cotton mill community could succeed unless it cared for the edu- 
cation and morals of its help. 

The people in this State owe a debt of gratitude to the cotton mills for the 
conspicuous part they took in developing the school system, and even to-day, 
when you go to, say, Newberry, Pelzer, Piedmont, Pacolet, Clifton or Laurens, vou 
will find handsome two-story brick structures that antedated the graded school 
building in very many of the interior towns of the State; yet these schools that 
belong distinctly to the cotton mill operatives are running right along doing their 
good work. Cotton mills are continuing to contribute very largely out of their 
corporation funds to the support of the schools. Now that the State is more 



126 

prosperous, and the cotton mills have added largely to the taxable values, the 
cotton mills do not in all instances support the schools entirely out of their 
treasuries as they once did, but the fund derived from school taxes— part of 
which is paid by the cotton mills, of course— is supplemented by the cotton mill 
when necessary to insure, first, the employment of first-class teachers: second, 
the running of the schools for at least nine months in the year. 

In a great many communities the building of the cotton mills— take Lancaster, 
for instance, with its new million-dollar cotton mill— has made it possible for 
the community to erect a handsome new graded school, and here, as in a great 
many other instances, the cotton mills pay very much more in the matter of taxes 
than is necessary to run a school v/hich is to be attended by the children of the 
mill community. In a number of instances, Anderson and Rock Hill, for example, 
two groupings of cotton mills are paying taxes in the same school district, pro- 
viding more than ample funds for the running of the schools patronized by the 
children of the various mill communities. 

Five and ten years ago the cotton mills had their own schools and developed 
their own graded school systems,' from the kindergarten up to the high school, 
and these schools were almost entirely attended by the children from the cotton 
mills. But to-day the disposition seems to be to mix the general patronage with 
that of the mill children, and not to make any line of demarkation between the 
children of the farmer, the merchant and those of the cotton mill, and it is very 
much better that this sentiment is growing, because the children of cotton mill 
operatives are of the same flesh and blood as their companions. 

I have gathered with a great deal of interest considerable data relative to 
the schools connected with the cotton mills. I have also interested myself in + he 
building and devolpment of churches, Y M. C. A.'s and kindred institutions, and 
then I have considered with interest the growth of secret orders and social or- 
ganizations among the operatives. The fact of the matter is that I have gotten 
almost enough data on this subject, and on the general topic of "Welfare Work" 
for a complete volume, but all I can do is to deal with it generally, and to point 
out the tendencies on the part of the cotton mill officials, which is to be heartily 
approved and commended, and the appreciation of what is being done in this 
direction by«the operatives themselves. 

In a later article I expect to say something about the great development of 
churches in the cotton mill communities. My records show that the average is 
more than one church to each of the cotton mill communities in the State. In 
fact there are a number of cotton mill communities that have from three to five 
churches— such as Union-Buffalo, Jonesville, TUcapau, Converse, Clifton, Olympia, 
Newberry, Marlboro, Reedy River, Piedmont, Pelzer, Jackson Mills, Chiquola, 
Graniteville and others. Of the denominations and the part that the mills have 
played in the encouragement of these churches, I expect to write later on. I hope 
to show the substantial encouragement that the mills have given to education; 
first of all by the erection of commodious and comfortable school buildings, and 
then by providing competent teachers and arranging for a full year's work in all 
these schools. 



ARTICLE XIX.— The Wisdom of Welfare Work. 

The wisdom of "welfare work" is no longer questioned by those who are 
at the head of manufacturing enterprises; and, by the way, it is unfortunate 
that the only considerable manufacturing industries in this State, in which 
white labor is used, are the cotton mills. 

It seems to be taken for granted that the cotton mills should undertake the 
education of the younger help, although there never has been or could there be 
any requirement, that this should be done, but almost invariably the cotton 
mills have spent their money freely, both in the erection of substantial school 
buildings and in the employment of teachers. The requirement that the school 
should be entirely supported by the cotton mills has been to a very large extent 
removed by the increased taxable values and the multiplication of cotton mills 
in certain sections. The cotton mills, therefore, while paying their portion of 
the taxes, do not entirely support the schools as they formerly did, but it is an 
exceedingly rare thing where the cotton mill does not in addition to its quota 
of taxes contribute to the support of the school. The cotton mills have built 
more than one hundred school buildings in their communities, some of them 
costing as much as $15,000, which they have paid out of their treasuries, and there- 
by perhaps abbreviated dividends. Now that the counties are able to do some- 
thing towards the support of the schools out of public funds the desire of the 
mill officials to give the children in the mill communities the very best school 
advantages is indicated by the fact that the mills very often employ additional 
teachers out of their funds or arrange to supplement the county funds to guar- 
antee that the free schools run for a period of nine months. 

I will in a supplementary table give the actual average school attendance 
at what are known as distinctly cotton mill schools, and in a general summary 
it will be my pleasure to show how much the cotton mills are contributing to- 
wards the support of the schools for their operatives. Of course, in reading over 
these figures it must be borne in mind that all this work is purely voluntary 
and comes as a free offering from the cotton mill corporations to their help. The 
difficulty has not been in the willingness of the mills to give, but in getting 
the operatives to accept. In other words the only unfortunate thing has been 
that the children do not attend the schools as they should. The schools have 
been there for them all along, and the teachers have been willing and anxious 
to teach them, but unfortunately too many parents commercialize their children 
too early in life. 

I do not think there is any question about the fact that the mill presidents 
want the children to attend school. Aside from the desire to see that the stat- 
ute laws of the State with reference to child labor is enforced, as a matter of 
fact the cotton mill presidents want educated help, and they do not want it too 
young; and they are seriously anxious to have the younger children in thb 
schools, if for no other reason than to keep them out of mischief and out of 
the mills until they are ready to do effective work. 

The South Carolina Cotton Manufacturers' Association has repeatedly gone 
on record as favoring compulsory education, and I have no doubt but that 
every cotton mill president in this State honestly and earnestly hopes that this 
law will be enacted and that the school authorities will be given authority 



128 

to see that a law requiring attendance is enforced. Now that the schools are 
in such excellent condition the cotton mills are looking to other avenues of 
"welfare work." They are spending money freely on the improvement of the 
houses for the operatives, in fact, at one mill alone— Union-Buffalo— President 
Aug W. Smith has during the last year expended $53,406 in permanent improve- 
ments; $30,000 of this amount to be expended on the improvement, repainting 
and repairing of the homes of the operatives. 

The Montgomerys have always been conspicuous in their work in connec- 
tion with schools, and the old school building at Pacolet has turned out very 
many young men and women of ability. When I was at the Spartan Mills Mr 
Walter S. Montgomery was devoting himself to the erection of a three-story 
brick hospital building with an operating room on the top floor. Any one rid- 
ing from Augusta to Graniteville will see along the line the site of the new 
hospital building which is to be erected by the Warren Manufacturing Com- 
pany. Other mills have arranged to have any of their sick or injured help 
cared for at the local hospitals. 

A recent development, and one which is showing good results, is that of the 
T. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. in the cotton mill districts. Within the last few 
days I have received a booklet written by Miss Lillian L. Long, of the Southern 
Cotton Mill Association movement, which would prove very interesting for every 
one in this State to read. In this report Miss Long outlines the real work that 
her associates have done in this State and are doing in the South. What gives 
significance and force to the work done by the Y. M. C. A. organizers and the 
Y. W. C. A. workers, is that they live in and are a part of, the mill communi- 
ties. And while they are at all times loyal to the mill officials, because they 
deserve loyalty, their interests are identical with the operatives, and the closei 
they get in their touch with the operatives the more effective their work and 
the more abundant their reward. In a recent article in "The American Indus- 
tries," by Mr Thos F. Parker, president of the Monaghan Cotton Mills, he gives 
very briefly an outline of what these associations have done in that community 
in a single year. He writes as follows: 

"The Monaghan Mills, Greenville, S. C, with a mill village population of 
1,800, is one of the South Carolina mills doing welfare work. It has had a 
Young Men's Christian Association and a Young Women's Christian Association 
established in its village with suitable rooms for several years. 

"The Young Men's Christian Association reported for last year 23,999 re- 
corded visits to its building; 21 socials for men and women with an attendance 
of 2,196; Sunday social sessions (with men, women and children,) attendance 
1,836; calls made by secretary, 6,951; visits to sick, 155; besides the use of books 
and periodicals in the reading room 1,750 volumes were taken from the library. 
Night classes in arithmetic, English, band, boys' group, studies had an attend- 
ance of 1,585. A number of other activities well attended are omitted for sake 
of brevity. 

"The Young Women's Christian Association work in the same village is 
equally satisfactory. Its results can be judged from the above- figures. The at- 
tendance on these two associations is confined to the inhabitants of the mili 
village with a total population of 1,800." 

The Y. W. C. A. workers at the Pelzel Cotton Mills are an established in- 
stitution of that enterprise, and they have long been regarded as among the best 
workers in the mill communities. It is largely through the effectiveness of the 



129 

work at Monaghan and Pelzer that other mills are taking up this phase of 
"welfare work." 

The officials of the Piedmont Mills, at the request of President W. E. Beattie, 
and the directors of the Victor Cotton Mills at the instance of President Lewis 
W. Parker, and the' Hamilton-Car hart Mills are going to introduce the T. W. C. 
A. workers. The idea of employing such skilled workers is fast spreading among 
the mills. 

At the Granby and Olympia Cotton Mills independent workers and trained 
nurses have been at work for sometime, and their work has been universally 
commended. 

The Brandon Cotton Mills, through the influence of President Westervelt has 
employed a young lady who was recommended by one of the ministers in the 
community to undertake the same line of work that is being done by the Y. 
W. C. A., and this plan of independent work on the part of educated young wo- 
men is quite general. 

In the Pee-Dee section I found that the Methodist Church and the Baptist 
Church both had missionaries at work among the operatives at McColl. The 
Methodist Conference, which embraces Clio, McColl, Bennettsville and Piney- 
wood, had selected and were maintaining Miss Gainor in the mill work, and 
the Baptist Conference had selected Miss Carroll. I heard nothing but the very 
highest praise by the operatives and mill officials of the work of these two 
young women. 

At Anderson Miss Burger was at work in the mill community at the in- 
stance of and was supported by the Baptist Conference. A newspaper man, 
seventeen years in touch with all classes of people in connection with his news- 
paper wokr cannot but remark how much more important and how much more 
sensible it is to have such workers in our own State than among the heathen 
of Patigonia and Zanzibar. But the instances I have recorded are mere illus- 
trations, and are typical. 

These good women who go into the cotton mill communities and the mission 
field are of incalculable service, and together with the T. W. C. A. workers 
relieve the mothers who have sickness n their families, showing them how to 
prepare food properly, suggest delicacies for the sick, and altogether do a 
great deal more good, and do it where it is far more appreciated, than it would 
be in the wilds of Africa or among the heathen "Chinee," who sometimes mob 
and kill the missionaries. 

It is a source of great satisfaction to find church papers, such as the South- 
ern Christian Advocate, the Lutheran Church Visitor and the Baptist Courier, 
showing an intelligent appreciation of the work the cotton mills themselves are 
doing for the advancement of their help and of such workers as these young 
women and ministers, who really do more than earn their salary. 

There are some cotton mill presidents who believe that it is a sensible and 
good thing for the officials to mix with their help. I believe that the strongest 
advocate of this view is Mr Hammett, of Honea Path; and on the other hand 1 
talked with one of the most successful mill presidents, who has an entirely 
different view, but who is exceedingly generous in every thing he does for his 
help. He takes the position that the officials of the cotton mill can not well 
mix socially, politically or otherwise with their help, and that if they do it is 
misunderstood. In fact, he takes the position that the cotton mill in which he 
has observed the worst discipline of the help and the worst attendance, is one 



130 

in which the excutive head undertook to act as "wet nurse" for his help, and 
this officer and his wife were in charge of the Sunday-school and did every- 
thing that they could to get in the closest kind of touch with the help; and as 
far as this particular president observed the result was disastrous on account 
of the desire on the part of the executive head to do too much for his help. 

The welfare work in a great many instances is assuming large proportions. 
Take, for instance, two conspicuous illustrations, Monaghan and Graniteville: 
Within the last few months the Hickman Memorial Hall, at Graniteville has 
been opened to the public, and it was my pleasure to be present soon after this 
opening and to make a careful inspection of the building. Without any exag- 
geration I regard this as the handsomest club house building of any in the State 
of South Carolina. I do not confine this observation to a club house built by 
a corporation for the use of its operatives, but it is a handsomer building and 
it is better equipped, has more opportunities and facilities for healthful amuse- 
ment and recreation than any other building in the State erected for club pur- 
poses. Instead of putting up a monument to Mr Hamilton H. Hickman, who 
had been the successful president of the Graniteville Mill for a great many 
years, his son, Mr T. I. Hickman, suggested that the memorial to be erected 
by the mill corporation take the shape of a serviceable club house, and the sum 
of $25,000 has been expended in the building that is to be used exclusively for 
the pleasures of the operatives. 

At the Monaghan Cotton Mills, at Greenville, the handsome Y. M. C. A. 
building was erected at a cost of more than $18,000. I think that the entire 
fund for the erection of this superb building was donated by Mr Thos F. Parker 
and his immediate family, and in addition to this I was privately informed that 
Mr Thos F. Parker contributes annually out of his own resources the greater 
portion of the funds necessary for the successful maintenance of this noble 
undertaking. But these are simply symptoms of the general disposition of the 
cotton mills in South Carolina and many of their officers to adopt the most ad- 
vanced ideas of providing pleasures for their help. What other class of em- 
ployees do these things in this section? All of this does good, and the more the 
better. I believe their efforts are in the right direction. 

In addition to establishing schools and churches for the help the cotton mills 
have been very generous in the matter of providing halls and lodge rooms for 
the use of their operatives. The operatives are very clannish, and they are 
very fond of their secret orders, of which there are a great many in the various 
communities. The Red Men and the Odd Fellows are perhaps the most popular 
lodges in the mill communities. While there are a great many operatives who 
belong to the Knights of Pythias, many of the lodges of that Order are in the 
towns, and the operatives affiliate with the brethren there. This is the usual 
custom in the matter of Masonic lodges. While the Odd Fellows and the Red 
Men are the most flourishing organizations among the mill operatives the 
Knights of Pythias have recently shown considerable activity in these commu- 
nities. There are some branches of the Junior Order of American Workmen 
among the mill operatives. The Woodmen of the World are quite strong in the 
various mills. 

Ten years ago it was a very unusual thing to find a library in a cotton mill 
community, and these luxuries were to be found only at the older and more 
successful mills, such as Piedmont, Pelzer, Graniteville and a few others, but 
now the mill that has not a library of some description— even if it be in some 



131 

temporary library building, with a few hundred volumes, is very unusual. 
Most of the mills are now spending money each year for the acquisition of new 
books. 

In addition to the general outside help there is a street force that is used 
by each of the mills in keeping up appearances and making the villages look 
as neat and clean as possible. 

A great many of the mills each year offer prizes for the best flower gardens 
as well as for the best vegetable gardens, and in addition to the prizes pur- 
chase the seed and furnish them gratuitously to the operatives who will plant 
them. These gardens are very much like a savings account, depending entirely 
upon the industry of the individual. 

I suppose there must be fully twenty-five brass bands in the various mill 
communities. These organizations are given generous support by the mill of- 
ficials, and are a source of real pleasure to the help. They give frequent con- 
certs. At some of the older mills the bands are divided into brass and stringed 
instruments, and they provide music for the dances that make life brighter in 
many mill communities. 

Base ball is a great institution with the mill folks. In the circular letter 
that I sent out I asked the mill officials if they provided base ball parks for 
their help, and whether these parks or ball fields had been provided free. In look- 
ing over the replies I have found only one cotton mill in this State that is with- 
out a base ball park; the "fever" extends from the mill president down to the 
tiniest doffer; and the mill community that has not its "bunch" of "fans" js 
indeed a rarity. I intended tabulating the base ball record, but my stenographer 
who is not a "fan" persuaded me that it was unnecessary, as every mill 
seemed to have its base ball team and its park, and there was entire sameness 
in such detail. 

The Rev Mr S. A. Nettles, editor of the Southern Christian Advocate, in a 
recent publication of the Advocate has made some observations of the welfare 
work that the mill presidents are undertaking, and in the issue of July 11, 1907. 
makes this interesting summary: 

"All this will lequire money, but Jt will be money well invested, whose div- 
idends will be paid indirectly in employees who are intelligent, satisfied, inter- ■ 
ested and self-respecting, and directly, in the end, in better workmanship and 
larger profits for the mill. Some mill presidents there are in this State who have 
caught the vision of their larger opportunity and obligation, and are system- 
atically and conscientiously working toward their realization. These are at 
once real industrial leaders and benefactors. We trust their example and in- 
fluence may lead the others to lift their eyes from the muck heap of immediate 
gain to the unseen but everchanging crown of opportunity and duty." 

It is a curious phase of mill life and one that ought to be considered by 
the good people of the State, that thty do not like what might be termed out- 
side interference. At one of the cotton mills in Spartanburg the ladies of the 
city undertook to establish what they called a "day nursery." The good women 
thought that this would be a good plan for them to take care of children, 
while some of the mothers were in the mill, but the idea was resented, by the 
mothers, that they were unable to take care of their own children, and they 
would not let these well groomed women, who were really anxious to enlist in a 
good cause, undertake the work that they had contemplated, and the "day 
nursery" is a thing of the past. If they would raise a fund with which to em- 



132 

ploy some acceptable young woman, who would go among the mill people and 
actually live among them and be a part of their life, and at the same time in a 
tactful way show them how they could improve the digestibility of their bis- 
cuits and discard the injurious grease in their food, and suggest modern meth- 
ods of preparing food for the little ones with weak stomachs, they would really 
be doing a service of which they could be proud, and one which would be appre- 
ciated. Or they might employ a trained nurse to live and work among the op- 
eratives—that is the work that counts. 



ARTICLE XX. -Welfare Work, Particularly Schools. 

The statements given as to the expenditure, both in the way of taxes ana 
voluntary gifts, in aid of schools, and the statistics relative to attendance ny 
children, will indicate how much substantial work the cotton mills are doing for 
the education of the children in their communities. I would like to take up in 
detail the school system at Pacolet, Pelzer or some of the larger corporations, 
and show how much real good these schools have done and how many hundreds 
of thousands of dollars the cotton mills of the State have spent in the education 
of the help independent of the taxes, of which they pay, perhaps, more than 
their proportionate share. 

For instance, the Gluck Mills, which is one of the newer enterprises, has 
spent $8,000 for the erection of a school building, but this is no experimental 
venture, for the cotton mill that does not have its own school building is not 
considered up-to-date, unless the mill is in a thriving town or city. 

As already pointed out, the disposition is to attend the graded schools in tha 
towns. With the increased transportation facilities that the street car lines afford 
this tendency is growing in such communities as Anderson, Greenville, Columbia, 
Spartanburg and elsewhere. In a number of communities, such as Anderson and 
Rock Hill, the cotton mills are quite olose to each other and they have found it 
advantageous to combine their energies in the building of schools. In connec- 
tion with the school at Rock Hill the young ladies at Winthrop College are used 
to advantage in teaching the younger children. The mill officials do not hesitate 
to spend their money freely for school buildings, and in the early days of cotton 
mills in this State, when Piedmont, Pacolet, Clifton, Pelzer, Newberry and the 
older mills were being constructed, the school buildings went up at the same 
time, and these handsome structures are still in evidence in practically every mill 
community in testimony of the early efforts and desire of the cotton mill officials 
to join in the work of educating the people of this State. Certainly the first 
kindergarten work that was done in many sections of the State was that under 
the direction of the mill presidents, and I believe that it is safe to say that the 
first kindergarten work done in Anderson County or in Columbia was at Pelzer 
and the Whaley Mills, respectively. The pity of the whole thing is that these 
schools are not appreciated as they ought to be by the people for whom they are 
conducted. They are now appreciated very much more than they were in former 
years. This change may be due to some extent to the increased earning capacity 
of the parents. I have recently been reading of the disproportion of illiteracy in 
the mill communities as compared with the larger cities. This is unfair to the 
operatives, because they lacked the opportunities of getting an education before 
they went to the mills, and the mills are not responsible for the conditions of ten 
or more years ago, and it is unusual now to find the younger generations illiter- 
ate; and if they are it is their own fault, or rather that of the parents. The 
attendance in a great many of the communities is very commendable, but it is 
not what it ought to be. At Graniteville, for instance, where the school building 
of forty years ago is still in use, with additions and improvements, the attendance 
last year was two hundred and sixty, and the average attendance was 35 per cent. 
The schools have five teachers and two extra instructors. At near'y all the 
schools I was told that the children remain at home on the flimsiest sort of 



134 

excuse, and not alone have the teachers great difficulty in overcoming this habit 
of staying away from school, but there is a great deal of dfficulty— not as great 
now as in former years— of getting the children into the schools at all. This 
is not because the children are used in the cotton mills, but the parents allow 
them to "loaf" around the house or in the streets, and their only excuse in not 
sending the children to school is that they themselves did not have an education; 
or that the children have not got the clothes— more indifference than anything 
else. To meet this objection a great many of the cotton mill presidents employ 
their teachers with the understanding- that they have to go out into the mill dis- 
tricts and "drum up" children for their schools. In other words, they are to 
keep in touch with all the children who ought to go to school and see that they 
do attend school. 

In Lancaster last year .Superintendent Skinner went with the teacher to 
every house in the village and ascertained definitely how many children there 
. were in the families and how many of them went to school, and if they did not 
go to school what was the reason, if any. Some of the parents said they did not 
have the proper clothes for the children; others that they did not have shoes 
for the little ones, and a number objected because of the expense of the books. 
Mr Skinner in every instance told the parents that, if they did not have the clothes 
for their children, and if they could not buy the shoes or books, if they would 
go to the mill office that the money would be advanced for them to buy the neces- 
sary school clothes or books, and if they did not care to have it advanced, that 
the company would give this money. The result was that the parents, after the 
importance of education had been pointed out to them by the superintendent snd 
teacher, recognized the necessity of sending their children to school and did not 
ask for the help. But this is iust an instance of the constant effort that the mill 
presidents and their associates exert in their desire to have the children attend 
the schools. In a great many of the cotton mill communities, . Graniteville and 
Pelzer and others, the parents obligate themselves to send their children to 
schools, certainly until they are i2 years of age; and there is absolutely no 
reason why every child that is born and raised in a cotton mill community should 
not get an education. The fact of the matter is that a great many of these 
young men and women are now getting colleg-e educations. 

In very many of the communities there are night schools. At the Orr Cotton 
Mill and the Anderson Cotton Mill these schools are doing very well. At the 
Piedmont Cotton Mills there has been an improvement in attendance by requiring 
the pupils to pay fifty cents a month. At Mollohon Mills the younger students of 
the Newberry College are doing successful work, as are the students of the South 
Carolina University in the night schools connected with the Columbia Mills. The 
night school at the Olympia Cotton Mill has been so very successful that the 
city of Columbia has incorporated it in its excellent system. The night school at 
the Monaghan Cotton Mills last year bad an attendance of sixty-five. 

Some of the schools are, in addition to the regular text book work, pursuing 
courses in cooking, fancy work, sewing, etc. There is a special department for this 
work at Monaghan and some of the more advanced schools. The cotton mills are 
just as eager to get the best class of talent for their school teachers as are any 
others. At Pacolet, for instance, the principal is a teacher of the "old school," 
who has done a great work in that community, and associated with him as teach- 
ers are two graduates of Limestone College, one from Converse and one Irom the 
Memminger High School of Charleston. All these teachers are paid at the end of 



135 

each month by the cotton mill. The school at Pacolet, by way of illustration of 
the others in this State, ran last year for nine months. The highest attendance 
during 1 that period was one hundred and eighty-three, and the lowest one hun- 
dred and thirteen. The average for nine months on the part of the boys was 
seveny-seven and fifty-seven-one hundredths and for the girls seventy-three, making 
a total average attendance of one hundred and fifty. The average numoer to the 
teacher was fifteen and fifty-one-one hundredths boys, and fourteen and six-tenths 
for girls, or a total average per teacher of thirty and eleven-one hundredths. 
Certainly there is no better school in any of the graded school systems of this 
State. Incidentally it may be stated that the total enrolment was about 300 and 
that the oldest of those enrolled was 25 years of age. 

My visit to the cotton mills was during the summer months, and there were 
then more children in the mills than ordinarily, because the schools had closed 
down, and under the statute law where children attended school they are pro- 
vided with a certificate to the effect that they are legally entitled to work in the 
mills. 

I am advised that the attendance at all of the schools connected with the 
cotton mills is larger upon the resumption of work this session than heretofore. 
At one of the schools, which last year had an attendance of 150 children upon the 
opening of the session, this year there was an enrolment of 210, and it became 
necessary to engage an additional teacher and to provide new equipment for the 
increased number of children. 

The general disposition of the parents, in view of their prosperity, is to send 
their children to school, and there are no schools that are doing better work 
than many of those connected with the cotton mills. 

The "Welfare Work" at the Olympia and Granby Mills is progressing so veil 
and the work in connection with the schools is so good that I want to make a 
distinction and incorporate a paragraph concerning the progress of this work. 

There is a kindergarten in both the Olympia and Granby villages. Both 
schools employ two teachers and have an average attendance of from thirty to 
forty pupils. Each school has a separate building, well lighted and is equipped 
with such paraphernalia as is necessary for the running of such institutions. 
There is a nice flower garden around each of these buildings. Special attention 
is given to the social gatherings several times a month, to which all the mem- 
bers of the families with children attending the schools are invited. They attend 
in large numbers and heartily enjoy the exercises as planned by the teachers. 
In bad weather a suitable conveyance is sent around the Hill to gather up the 
children and deliver them to the school building. While this seems a small 
thing, it is a great convenience to the mothers, who otherwise would probably have 
to take their children themselves. 

There is a flourishing graded school in each of these villages. The Granby 
School, which is in the city limits, last year enjoyed the distinction of having the 
largest per cent of attendance of any of the city schools of Columbia. The mill 
furnishes the building and all necessary apparatus. The city furnishes the two 
teachers. The attendance this year is about eighty-five to ninety pupils. 

The Olympia School is outside of zhe city limits. It employs three teachers 
and has an enrolment of about one hundred and sixty pupils. Both of these 
schools regulate their hours to conform to the mill hours. Some of the children 
have to carry dinner to their elders in the mill; so the schools close at 11.30 and 



136 

"take in" at an hour after dinner, that the child can get back to its desk with- 
out inconvenience. 

Last winter the Rev Mr C. E. Weltner, pastor of the Olympia Lutheran 
Church, started a night school, which was self-supporting, and it seems almost 
needless to add that it was, as in most cases of this kind, where the pupil is 
made to pay for what he gets, successful. This winter the city proposed to the 
mills that, if the mills would furnish suitable quarters, the city would furnish 
teachers. The result is an enrolment of one hundred and fifty pupils and four 
teachers at work three nights each week. The school rooms will compare favor- 
ably with any others in the city. These mills have equipped a splendid, well- 
lighted auditorium, having a seating capacity of at least five hundred. A otage 
has been erected and several local plays— the operatives furnishing the talent— have 
already been pulled off. It is expected to have several free lectures on popular 
subjects during the winter. 

There are three trained nurses employed in the villages. Two are furnished 
by the mills and the other one is a missionary of the Methodist Church. They 
are all well liked by the operatives and are doing good work. These young 
nurses take charge, under the physician, in the care of the patient in severe or 
malignant cases, carrying out the doctor's instructions and advising generally as 
to sanitary precautions. In less severe sickness, where attention but not a 
doctor's care is needed, these nurses take charge of the case. The mills pay their 
salaries nad furnish disinfectant and some medicine when needed. 

Both of these villages are in as good sanitary condition as the cities and 
towns in this section. Carts are employed all the time in hauling off refuse; 
lime and other purifying agents are used profusely; old cans, paper and trash 
are cleaned up thoroughly every day. The streets are well taken care of; flowers 
are planted and operatives are encouraged to beautify the premises occupied by 
them. The Richland and Capital City Mills, under the same management, are also 
doing considerable well directed "Welfare Work." 

Under the head of schools might be mentioned the libraries, and, as I have 
already indicated, practically all of the cotton mills have libraries of one sort or 
another, and many of them have attractive reading rooms, in which the late 
magazines and current periodicals are available. At the Monaghan Cotton Mills 
I had a talk with a little fellow, named Paul Campbell, who had a novel in hiss 
hand, entitled the "Outlaws of Horse-Shoe Hole." The boy told me the book 
was not as bad as the name indicated, and he also told me he had read every 
Alger book that was in the library. I found at Pelzer that the great favorites 
there were the G. A. Henty and the "Elsie" books, by Martha Finiey. The 
libraries have all of the standard wor.-cs, such as Dickens, Dumas, MuhlbaCh, 
Marryat, Stevenson, Caine, Scott, Hardy, Roe, Lyall, Ebers, Simms, Holmes, 
Irving, Collins, Henty, King, Doyle and others more recent. The favorite 
writers in practically all the libraries are the same as they are at Pelzer and 
Graniteyille, where I made inquiry, and almost invariably they told me that the 
books that were most frequently taken out were those of Alger, Henty and the 
"Elsie" books. At Graniteville Miss Belle Glover, the librarian, told me that there 
were at least one hundred books of the nine hundred always out. Mr Hickman, 
the president of the company, contributes a great many of the latest novels to the 
library, and he appreciates that the operatives want to read the latest novels as 
much so as do other people who are not engaged in mill work, and that ethical 
and religious works are practically "junk" in a mill library. The proper develop- 



137 

ment of libraries in mill communities offers a very important field to boards of 
directors. A good library should work along the right lines of "Welfare Work," 
and these libraries should be managed by competent and particularly good \ooking 
young women. 

In connection with the schools I trust that these tables, showing the amount 
of money invested in school properties and the attendance at the schools— received 
from those corporations that were good enough to supply me with the informa- 
tion in response to my inquiries— will be of interest: 



SCHOOL STATISTICS RELATIVE TO SOUTH CAROLINA COTTON MILLS 



Enrol- 


Average 


Number 


ment. 


Attend- 


of Chil- 




once. 


dren un- 
d e r 12 
years in 
village. 


. 80 


45 


150 



35 

150 



67 



Abbeville Cotton Mills 

Aetna Cotton Mills 200 200 

Aiken Manufacturing Company 102 48 

American Spinning Company 252 .... 

Anderson Cotton Mills 410 

Apalache Mills , 74 

Aragon Cotton Mills* 

Arcade Cotton Mills 75 

Arcadia Mills 70 

Arkwright Mills 70 

Bamberg Cotton Mills 

Banna Manufacturing Company 

Batesville Mill 

Beaumont Manufacturing Company 50 

Belton Mills 210 

Brogon Mills 180 

Brandon Mills .■ 180 

Calhoun Falls Mfg Co (starting) 

Calumet Manufacturing Company* 

Camperdown Mills 

Capital City Mills 54 

Hamilton Carhart Cotton Mills 

Carolina Mills 40 

Cherokee Falls Mfg Co 70 

Cheswell Cotton Mills* 

Chiquola Manufacturing Company 60 40 

Clifton Manufacturing Company .... 

:Clinton Cotton Mills, (no reply to 

any inquiries) .... 

Clover Cotton Mills* 

Columbia Cotton Mills , 

Conneross Tarn Mill .... 

D. E. Converse Company 154 65 

Courtenay Manufacturing Company 205 94 

Cowpens Manufacturing Company .... 



153 


500 


53 


250 




.... 


50 


128 


.... 


150 


39 


130 



21 



400 
400 



38 


100 




50 


27 


42 


40 


160 



135 



160 
193 



Cox Manufacturing Company 

Darlington Manufacturing Co 

Dillon Cotton Mills , 

Drayton Cotton Mills , 

Easley Cotton Mills 

Edgefield Manufacturing Company 

Enoree Manufacturing Company , 

Eureka Cotton Mills , 

Fairfield Cotton Mills 

Pingerville Manufacturing Co 

Fork Shoals Manufacturing Co 

Fountain Inn Manufacturing Co 

Franklin Mills 

Gaffney Manufacturing Company 325 

Glenn-Lowry Manufacturing Co 

Glenwood Cotton Mills 75 

Globe Manufacturing Company 

Gluck Mills 105 

Granby Cotton Mills 

Graniteville Manufacturing Com- 
pany (includes Vaucluse) 325 

Greenwood Cotton Mills 25 

Grendel Cotton Mills 75 

Hamer Cotton Mills* 

Hartsville Cotton Mill 75 

Hermitage Cotton Mills 

Highland Park Manufacturing Co. 50 

Huguenot Mills » 

Inman Mills 193 

Irene Mills 

Issaquena Mills* . 

Jackson Mills. 

Jonesville Manufacturing Company 200 

Jordan Manufacturing Company* 

Lancaster Cotton Mills 235 

Langley Manufacturing Company 230 

Laurens Cotton Mills 125 

Lexington Manufacturing Company 

Liberty Cotton Mills 31 

Limestone Mills 77 

Lockhart Mills 175 

Lydia Cotton Mills 60 

Manchester Cotton Mills 64 

Manetta Cotton Mills 200 

Marion Manufacturing Company... ... 41 

Marlboro Cotton Mills 130 

Mary Louise Mills* 



Enrol- 
ment. 


Average 
Attend- 
ance. 


No. of 
Children 
under 12 
years in 
village. 
116 


100 


75 


.... 









65 


50 




94 


71 


150 




25 


350 


60 


45 


150 



165 



49 



GO 
450 



300 



275 


500 


20 




60 


150 


35 


200 




.... 


40 


.... 


130 


.... 




25 




150 


150 


100 


125 


400 


176 


500 


65 


277 




.... 


25 


50 


40 


38 


125 


250 


35 


300 


32 


175 


120 


300 


24 


50 


72 


400 



139 



Enrol- 


Average 


No. of 


ment. 


Attend- 


Children 




ance. 


under 12 
years in 
village. 



Maple Cotton Mills* , 

McGee Manufacturing Company 

Mill Fort Mill Company* 

Fort Mill Manufacturing Co 

Mills Manufacturing Company 70 

Mollohon Manufacturing Company 65 

Monaghan Mills 225 

:Monarch Cotton Mills (no reply to 

any inquiries) 

Middleburg Mills 55 

Neely Manufacturing Company* 

Newberry Cotton Mills 125 

Ninety-Six Cotton Mill..' 50 

Norris Cotton Mills 110 

Octorato Mill Company 

Olympia Cotton Mills 140 

Orange Cotton Mills* 

Orangeburg Manufacturing Co 20 

Orr Cotton Mills 547 

Pacolet Manufacturing Company * 343 

Palmetto Cotton Mills 

Pelham Mills 80 

Pelzer Manufacturing Comjany 646 

Pendleton Cotton Mills* 

Pendleton Manufacturing Company 26 

Pickens Cotton Mills* 

Piedmont Manufacturing Company 433 

Pine Creek Manufacturing Co* 

Poe Manufacturing Company , 285 

Reedy River Manufacturing Co 206 

Richland Cotton Mills 45 

Riverside Manufacturing Co 125 

Royal Bag and Tarn Mfg Co 

Saxa-Cotha Mills* 

Saxon Mills 132 

Seminole Manufacturing Company. 

(being finished).... 

Seneca Cotton Mills* 

Spartan Mills 

Springstein Mills 

Sumter Cotton Mills* 

Tavora Cotton Mills 

Townsend Cotton Mills 

Toxaway Mills 105 

Tucapau Mills 150 

Tyger Cotton Mills \ 



45 


150 


52 


200 


120 




45 


100 


.... 





97 


287 


40 


60 


65 


138 




78 


100 


350 


— 





16 


30 


295 


500 


150 


.... 


48 




50 


100 


350 


1,400 


18 


125 


217 


700 


84 


148 


38 


150 


90 


200 




40 


65 


150 



84 



500 



40 
110 



140 



Enrol- 
ment. 



Union-Buffalo Mills Company 398 

Valley Falls Manufacturing Co... c 30 

Vardry Cotton Mills* 

Victoria Cotton Mills* 

Victor Manufacturing Company 218 

Walhalla Cotton Mills 50 

Walterboro Cotton Mills* 

Warren Manufacturing Company 128 

Ware Shoals Manufacturing Co 100 

Watts Mills 110 

Whittaker Cotton Mills* 

Whitney Manufacturing C ompany 139 

Williamston Mills* 

Woodruff Cotton Mills , 90 

Woodside Cotton Mills 150 

Wylie Mills* 

York Cotton Mills 35 

Total Mills reporting....' 10,873 



Average 
Attend- 
ance. 



200 
28 



110 
37 



20 
5,951 



No. of 
Children 
under 12 
years in 
village. 
781 
30 



418 
100 



195 
400 



177 
300 



86 



17,778 



*No information given. 
:No reply to any inquiry. 



Oconee Knitting Mills — 10 

Blue Ridge Hosiery Mill* 

Westminster Knitting Mills 26 22 40 

Excelsior Knitting Mills 90 

Grand totals 10,989 5,973 17,828 

Total enrolment Mills reporting 10,989 

Average attendance Mill Schools '.' 5,973 

Children under 12 in villages 17,828 

This table is the most unsatisfactory that I have had to prepare. It was the 
most difficult statement to prepare and it is now far from being complete. Thirty- 
one mills have not given any figures whatever relative to the school enrolment, 
average attendance or the number of children of school age in the villages. There 
was no way to compel the giving of this information. It meant a little trouble 
and the unfortunate part of such work as this is to have to encounter such in- 
difference on the part of a few of the mill officials. The complete return would 
have been much more gratifying, but as it is, the partial returns indicate that 
last year over 10,000 children in the mill village attended the schools— generally 
those provided by the mill corporations. 



141 

Amount of money 
invested in school 
buildings by Cot- 
ton Mills. 

Abbeville Cotton Mills $ 400 

Aetna Cotton Mills 6,000 

Aiken Manufacturing Company 900 

American Spinning Company 12,000 

Anderson Cotton Mills 4,000 

Apalache Mills 2,500 

Arcade Cotton Mills 3,500 

Arcadia Mills 500 

Arkwright Mills 500 

Belton Mills 5,000 

Brandon Mills 2,500 

Brogon Mills 2,000 

Calhoun Falls Mfg Co 

Calumet Manufacturing Company 12,000 

Capital City Mills 1,000 

Hamilton Carhart Cotton Mills 5,000 

Carolina Mills 

Cherokee Falls Mfg Co 400 

Cheswell Cotton Mills* 

Chiquola Manufacturing Company 3,000 

Clifton Manufacturing Company 9,000 

D. E. Converse Company... 2,500 

Courtenay Manufacturing Company 2,500 

Darlington Manufacturing Co 2,000 

Drayton Cotton Mills 800 

Easley Cotton Mills 7,500 

Enoree Manufacturing Company.. 4,000 

Fairfield Cotton Mills 1,000 

Fork Shoals Manufacturing Co 2,000 

Fountain Inn Manufacturing Co.... 2,000 

Gaffney Manufacturing Company.. 1,000 

Glenwood Cotton Mills 1,000 

Gluck Mills 8,000 

Graniteville Manufacturing Com- 
pany (includes Vaucluse) 3,000 

Grendel Cotton Mills 800 

Hamer Cotton Mills 1,000 

Hartsville Cotton Mill 1,200 

Inman Mills 8,000 

Jackson Mills 1,560 

Langley Manufacturing Company 1,500 

Laurens Cotton Mills 11,147 

Liberty Cotton Mills 500 

Lockhart Mills 2,500 

Manchester Cotton Mills 600 

Manetta Cotton Mills 15,000 



142 

Amount of Money Invested 
in School Buildings by Cot- 
ton Mills. 

Marion Manufacturing Company 500 

Mills Manufacturing Company 1,000 

Mollohon Manufacturing Company 500 

Monaghan Mills 1,000 

Newberry Cotton Mills 10,000 

Ninety-Six Cotton Mill 700 

Norris Cotton Mills 2,500 

Orangeburg Manufacturing Co 2,500 

Orr Cotton Mills 1,000 

Pacolet Manufacturing Company 5,000 

Palmetto Cotton Mills 1,000 

Pelham Mills 500 

Pelzer Manufacturing Company 13,000 

Pendleton Manufacturing Company 2,500 

Pickens Cotton Mills 

Piedmont Manufacturing Company 5,000 

Poe Manufacturing Company 6,000 

Reedy River Manufacturing Co 2,500 

Richland Cotton Mills 1,000 

Royal Bag and Tarn Mfg Co 4,000 

Saxa-Gotha Mills 1,200 

Saxon Mills 6,000 

Seminole Manufacturing Company, 

(being finished) 

Townsend Cotton Mills 2,500 

Toxaway Mills 2,000 

Tucapau Mills 2,500 

Union-Buffalo Mills Company 4,000 

Valley Palls Manufacturing Co 1,500 

Victoria Manufacturing Company 6,000 

Walhalla Cotton Mills 1,000 

Warren Manufacturing Company 3,000 

Watts Mills ,... ...... 6,000 

Williamston Mills 600 

Woodruff Cotton Mills 1,000 

Woodside Cotton Mills 1,000 

Excelsior Knitting 

Mills 5,000 

York Cotton Mills 700 

Grand total.... $253,447 

It will be noted that sixty Cotton Mills did not report on the amount of 
money they had invested in school property; some of these made no replies what- 
ever. Some of these mills have no school property, the town or city schools being 
more convenient. It is altogether safe to say that the Cotton Mills of South 
Carolina have from $300,000 to $350,000 invested in school property. 



ARTICLE XXI- Welfare Work— The Churches. 

It is well-nigh impossible to go into complete details as to the great work 
that is done in the cotton mill communities by the churches or the schools. I 
intended writing in detail concerning both the churches and the schools, but chere 
is so much of this data that I think a summary will be quite adequate, and ap- 
pended to this article is a statement of the location of the one hundred and sixty- 
five churches in the various cotton mill communities— a complete list would show 
over two hundred mill churches— and In this same connection I may later on 
give a synopsis of what the cotton mills are contributing and have donated to 
the establishment of these places of worship. 

The cotton mill operatives, as a class, are of a decidedly religious tempera- 
ment. They like to go to church and are very constant in their religious duties; 
and the people of South Carolina ought to be very much interested in everything 
that relates to a cotton mill operative, because as a body they make up more than 
one-fifth of the total white population in South Carolina. 

A yisit through the State will show how general is the interest in religious 
work in the various mill communities. In almost half of the mill settlements 
churches are being built, and what is particularly notable is that they are putting 
up expensive structures. At the Whitney Cotton Mills, where they are now build- 
ing a new church, it is to be a granite union church, which is to cost $6,000; $1,300 
of this amount has been raised by the operatives themselves and the remainder is 
being contributed by the corporation. There is nothing prettier than to go into a 
mill community on Sunday and see the people at church. They may not care very 
much about their dress in the week-a-day, but on Sundays they dress well. The 
general appearance of the congregation in a mill community is as good as it is 
anywhere else. The dry goods people all say that the cotton mill operative buys 
the very best dress fabrics and millineiy. In fact the impression is that the 
operatives as a class go to the point of extravagance in the matter of dress. 
One phase of church work that is stressed is the Sunday-school, and some of the 
very best Sunday-schools in the State are to be found in the cotton mill comrr.ttni- 
ties. The teachers generally come from among the operatives, and it is sur- 
prising to find such marked familiarity on the part of most of these folks with 
the Bible and religious matters. Thay have read the Bible, or they gained famili- 
arity with it through others, before they went to the cotton mill communities, 
and in their mountain or rural homes they did not have the opportunities and too 
often were without the dress with which to attend regular church services, and 
when they got to a community where there were a great number of churches and 
where they have the opportunity of dressing well, and there is a general spirit of 
church going, they delight in attending services. 

The great denominations in the various mill settlements are the Baptist and 
Methodist. I think that these two denominations are very evenly balanced in the 
mill communities, and it is possible that the claim of the Baptists that they pre- 
dominate is correct. But there are very many more of either of these important 
denominations than all others. In some of the communities there are Presby- 
terian churches, but very few Episcopalian missions are to be found. The Lu- 
therans have a few churches in the mill communities, particularly so in and 
around the Lutheran settlements of Lexington, Columbia, Newberry and vicinity. 



144 

In some of the communities there are union churches, but as a general rule the 
Methodists and Baptists have their own places of worship, and wherever the 
congregations are large enough the Presbyterians have erected church buildings 
and maintain pastors. 

The mill folks, as a rule, are generous in their support of church affairs, and 
in my talks with ministers living in the various communities I found they were 
unanimous in saying that in proportion to their means the operatives were 
very liberal towards their churches, and that they maintained their organizations 
with pride. 

The Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. are entering a number of the mill com- 
munities with their well organized plans. Just as a matter of information, so 
that the people of the State may sea exactly how well these plans are worked 
out, I give the scope of the plans of the T. M. C. A. for the coming season, as 
planned by the organization at Monaghan: 

WORK. 

Below is a part of what will be done at the Y. M. C. A. this year. There ought 
to be something in the programme that will interest every man at Monaghan. 
It is written for the young men, who have good red blood in their veins, and are 
looking for some means of bettering their conditions spiritually, socially, mentally 
or physically, or all of them. We hope you will read the programme. 

PHYSICAL DEPARTMENT.— GYMNASIUM. 

Mr John B. Poole, who so successfully taught the classes last year, has been 
employed for another term, which will mean success for the physical work this 
year. He will be assisted by Mr J. O. Hunnicutt, one of our own enthusiastic work- 
ers. There will be two classes— one for men and one for boys— meeting on Tues- 
day and Thursday nights. Classes open on September 10. There will be a ban- 
quet for the members entering the men's class on Friday night, the 6th, to form 
a club and elect officers for the year. These classes open to all members of the 
Association. 

RAMBLERS' CLUB. 

Prom time to time the club will take trips,, under the leadership of Mr J. O. 
Hunnicutt. Places of interest will be visited and there is no better exercise. Hand 
in your name for membership. 

OTHER THINGS. 

In addition to the above named there are the bowling alleys, new pool tables, 
tennis, croquet, basket ball, skating, volley ball, cross country runs, etc, which 
will keep things on the move in a physical way. 

COUNTRY CIRCUS. 
The gymnasium classes will have charge of the Christmas entertainment for 
the year, and they will give something new in the shape of a country circus. This 
will mean a royal good time for Christmas. 

EXHIBITIONS. 

The gymnasium classes will give four exhibitions during the year. The dates 
will be as follows: November 5, Christmas, the middle of February and at the 
end of the season, about the 1st of May. ( v \ ,sfev_.'\ , , , , ,,,,,, i , .j 



145 

EDUCATIONAL, DEPARTMENT.— MOVING PICTURES. 

It has been arranged to have moving pictures in the gymnasium every two 
weeks during the winter. Just enough admission will be charged to cover the ex- 
penses. Notices of the dates will be given from time to time. 

TEXTILE CLUB. 

The club will take up the practical problems which they have to meet in the 
mill and work them out. Arrangements are being made to have specialists lec- 
ture to them. A Clem son professor will give some illustrated lectures during the 
winter. The dates to be announced later. Tuesday will probably be the night. 
No admission fee. 

HEALTH TALKS. 

Some of the most prominent physicians of the city have agreed to give health 
talks on different subjects. The first one is on "Consumption" and will be. given 
by Dr E. W. Carpenter. There will be others equally as good. These lectures 
will be free. 

RELIGIOUS DEPARTMENT.— BIBLE CLASSES. 

A class for men at the building every Tuesday night, taught by Mr J. B. 
Poole, in the study of "Main Lines in the Bible," will interest a large crowd. 

Five cottage classes, taught by five different persons in different parts of 
the village on every Monday night, in the different characters of the Bible. The 
leaders will be: C. T. Fallin, F. A. Smith, the Rev J. B. Kilgore and W. L. Roper. 
Each class will stay at a cottage for four nights and move to another street. 

A leaders' class at the building, taught by the general secretary. 

DRAMATIC CLUB. 

The Dramatic Club was heard from twice last year, and their first performance 
will probably be in January of next year. Watch for announcements later. 

MEN'S MEETINGS. • 

Every Sunday afternoon a meeting will be held for men, except the last Sun- 
day of the month, when a union meeting with the Y. W. C. A. will be held. The 
music for the meetings will be furnished by the Y. M. C. A. Quartette, with Mr 
W. R. Corn in charge, and the orchestra. Mr® L. P. Hollis will be the pianist. 
Below is given the programme from the 1st of October to the 1st of Januar^: 

October 6, the Rev N. J. Holmes. 

October 13, Mr A. S. Bucke. 

October 20, Mr C. T. Fallin. 

November 3, the Rev A. E. Driggers. 

November 10, Leaderless meeting. " < • 

November 17, Prof H. T. Cox. 

December 1, Furman University students. 

December 8, the Hon J. A. McCullough. 

December 15, L. P. Hollis. 

December 22, Christmas meeting. 

There will be a total of eleven religious meetings per week run by the Associa- 
tion this winter. 



146 
SOCIAL DEPARTMENT.— SOCIALS. 

The following- socials have been planned from now until Christmas: 

September 7, Union Social with Y. W. C. A. on tennis court. "Potato Roast .'* 
October 12, Union Social. T. M. C. A. building. 
November 28, Union Social. Thanksgiving- Day. 
November 30, Quarterly meeting social. 

December 25, Christmas entertainment. "Country Circus." 
These, together with the socials at the T. W. C. A. and the juniors, which 
announcement is made under the boys' department, and the moving pictures, 
gymnasium exhibitions, etc, will keep the place in a lively spirit. 

GAMES. 

The best stock of games to be had will be found at the disposal of the mem- 
bers. The new pool tables and other games of interest will keep one from be- 
coming lonesome around the building. 

BOYS' DEPARTMENT.— NIGHT SCHOOL. 
Mrs L. P. Hollis will teach the boys n the group studies again this year, and 
it is hoped that the class will be as successful as it was last year. The class 
will begin Monday night, October 7, and run two nights per week for a term of 
twenty lessons. Ffty cents for the term. 

BOYS' LEAGUE. 

The League will do the work that the club has been doing all along, except 
that everybody won't know just what's going on. There will be some secrets which 
a fellow will have to know before he can gain admittance or communicate with 
a member. This League will run two Bible classes and the religious meetings, and 
have charge of the most of the social work. Talk with Mr Roper or Mr Smith 
about joining. Opening date September 15. 

PHYSICAL. 

The boys' classes will be separate from the men's, and will meet on Tuesday 
and* Thursday nights. All members of the Association are eligible. See physical 
department for notice. 

MARRIED MEN'S CLUB. 
The club meets every two weeks on Friday night, and all the men of the 
village are asked to join. The following is the programme until Christmas: 
October 4, Social and business meeting. 
October 18, Discussion, "Civic Improvement." 
November 1, Social with Married Women's Club. 

November 15, Address by Mr Wm Goldsmith. Subject, "Investments." 
November 29, Debate. 

December 15, "Best Plans of Saving Money." 
In connection with many of the churches there are "Ladies' Aid" societies that 
accomplish considerable good, and that are capable of effecting substantial re- 
sults largely because of the fact that all of the members are from the operatives 
themselves. 

Very many of the churches maintain burial societies, in connection with the 
corporation, that also in very many instances aid in cases of death; and much 
relief is given at times when it is sorely needed. 



147 

In connection with church work may be classed what is known as mission 
work. A great deal of this is being done in the various mill communities, but I 
want to emphasize the notable work that is being done by the Rev C. E. Weltner, 
his wife and their daughter, Miss Meyers, in Columbia. Mr Weltner is really a 
remarkable man. He is thoroughly in earnest, deeply impressed with the oppor- 
tunities of the field, and the only impediment that he has in his work is that he 
is blind. 

He has been at this work for some time, and only within the last few weeks 
the school commissioners for the city of Columbia, in appreciation of his labors, 
organized a night school for the mill district, and have placed the Rev, Mr Welt- 
ner in charge of this work. In a recent article by Mr Weltner in the Lutheran 
Church Visitor, in writing of the "perplexing problem" in the mission field, as he 
views it in the mill district, he summarizes the situation thus: 

"As a rule the mill company's officials treat the operatives with kindness and 
consideration. Olympia village, just outside of the corporate limits of Columbia, 
may truthfully be called a model village. The three, four and six-room houses 
are well built and kept in good repair. The rent is very cheap— fifty cents a month 
for each room. Every house has its plot of ground, sufficient for vegetables and 
flowers, or a poultry yard; cows may be stalled in stables provided by the com- 
pany; the ground is ploughed for the people free of charge. There is no influence 
brought to bear upon the operatives to purchase their necessities at any particular 
place. The wages paid are fair. Inquiry at our night school one evening in May 
brought out the fact that out of about forty pupils present, a few earned fifty 
cents a day, many seventy-five cents and eight earned, each $1 a day. I hav9 
several girls in the Sunday-school, 12 years old, earning $1 25 per day each. 

"From the first I have been impressed with the healthy state of honesty in 
this village. The merchants tell me that they have no difficulty with their collec- 
tions; dressmakers that they have suffered little, if any, loss. The unlocked doors 
seems to be the order of the day; and wood, coal, hens' nests, etc, are lying open, 
in easy reach of the passers-by. Hospitality and neighborly helpfulness are re- 
markable among these people. Our "Lutheran people have surprised me by their 
liberality. One family of father, mother and daughter give each one dollar per 
month for the current expenses of the Church. The monthly contributions are 
cheerfully made, and Sunday morning and evening offerings, as well as extra offer- 
ings besides. Work in or about the church or parsonage is willingly done by the 
men on Saturday afternoon— their only spare time. Moreover, there is an abso- 
lutely refreshing readiness to receive instruction, and absorb new ways and meth- 
ods. I have seldom found more eager and teachable learners, and in secular and 
religious matters. It is virgin soil, and gives one a peculiar pleasure to notice 
how sponge-like the teachings are absorbed." 

Mr Weltner is a great believer in self-help, and one of his purposes is to get 
the mill people out of the habit of begging or of being dependent upon others. Mr 
Weltner thinks that the mills are doing a very great deal for their help, but he 
is emphatic in his disapproval of the mills doing everything for their employees. 
In talking with me he said that his idea was that if the mill operatives wanted 
a picnic that they ought not, as is so often the case, apply to the mill people to 
give it, but that they should do so themselves and show a spirit of independence. 
If they wanted a Christmas tree they ought not to be entirely dependent upon the 
Elks, or some other organization, for this pleasure, because he felt that having 
their own Christmas trees and their own pleasures at their own expense- meant 
more than the little expense involved. 



148 

"When Mr Weltner went to the Olympia community there was indifference as to 
the night school, and he thinks this was largely because there was no expense 
attached. Mr Weltner began to charge the students fifteen cents per month, 
which went to pay the legitimate expanses. The result was that the operative 
students appreciated the work and were really benefited by it. Mr Weltner does 
not look upon child labor as a real problem, because he finds that they have a 
good time, and he is of the same opinion as Dr Stiles that the greater problem is 
that of the mothers, and so far as the children are concerned, where they go to the 
mill communities in a healthy condition, that they are healthy and contented, 
and the real work of the successful man or woman among them should be to 
teach them amibition, to be something and to do something, and to do this their 
work in the mill is most important. Mr Weltner does not resort to the pulpit 
alone to reach his people, but he goes among them and reaches them by personal 
appeals. He and his wife talk about the wisdom of saving money, of independ- 
ence, of what books they ought to read, and Mrs Weltner and her daughter 
suggest and help in the sewing by the members of the household, and suggest 
various means of self-help, which is the central idea of Mr Weltner' s work. He 
is convinced that the operatives in the cotton mill districts here, who have come 
to the Columbia mills from the farms of Lexington County, cannot be induced to 
return there. Mr Weltner is a great admirer of Dr Stiles, and saw a great deal 
of him and his work. Incidentally, without reflecting on any one else, he told me 
that Dr Stiles was the only governmental official that he had ever seen "buckle 
down" to hard work. 

The Methodist and Baptist churches generally have resident ministers in the 
larger mill communities. At the Piedmont community there are four resident 
ministers, who live and work among the mill folks, and there are probably fifty 
communities in which the pastors live in the mill villages, in homes that are 
provided by the corporations. 

Just before we go into the detailed statement it may be very well to take a 
hurried glance over the church situation in some of the larger communities, 
indicating the denominations. 

At Piedmont there are four churches— those of the Methodist, Baptist and 
Presbyterian and Wesleyan Methodists. At Pelzer there are five churches, and 
there is an investment of $29,500 in these church buildings. 

In the Newberry Mill village there are three churches — Methodist, Baptist and 
Lutheran. The Methodist church alone cost $5,000, and each of the churches has a. 
parsonage provided by the corporation. 

At the Parker Mills, in Columbia, there are four churches— Methodist, Baptist, 
Episcopalian and Lutheran. The three former cost at least $2,500 each, and the 
mill company provided the land and about half of the cost of construction. At 
Pacolet the Baptist and Methodist churches own handsome buildings, and the 
Presbyterian church, which was washed away by the storm several years ago, 
is to be replaced. But there is no use to go into further detail, because every 
one who has the slightest familiarity concerning the cotton mills of South Caro- 
lina appreciates the fact that almost the first thing the cotton mill operative does 
is to build a church and school. 

Here is a list as far as obtainable of the churches in the various communi- 
ties: 

CHURCHES ERECTED BY COTTON MILLS, EITHER IN PART OR ENTIRELY. 

Aiken Manufacturing Company, 1; Graniteville Manufacturing Company, (in- 
cludes Vaucluse,) 6; Langley Manufacturing Company, 2; Warren Manufacturing 



149 

Company 2; Anderson Cotton Mills, 2; Belton Mills, 2; Brogan Mills, 1; Chiquola 
Manufacturing Company, 1; Cox Manufacturing Company, 1; Gluck Mills, 1; Orr 
Cotton Mills, 2; Pelzer Manufacturing Company, 5; Pendleton Manufacturing Com- 
pany, 1; Riverside Manufacturing Company, 1; H. C. Townsend Cotton Mill, 1; 
Toxaway Mills, 1; Williamston Mills, 1; Bamberg Cotton Mills, 1; Royal Bag and 
Yarn Manufacturing Company, 1; Cherokee Falls Manufacturing Company, 1; 
Gaffney Manufacturing Company, 2; Limestone Mills, 1; Eureka Cotton Mills, 1; 
Manetta Cotton Mills, 3; Springstien Mills, 1; Darlington Manufacturing Company, 
2; the Hartsville Cotton Mill, 1; Edgefield Manufacturing Company, 1; Fairfield 
Cotton Mills, 2; American Spinning Company, 2; Batesville, (Putnam estate,) 1; 
Brandon Mills, 1; Camperdown Mills, 2; the Carolina Mills, 1; Fork Shoals Man-j-' 
facturing Company, 1; Fountain Inn Manufacturing Company, 1; Franklin Mills, 1; 
Huguenot Mills, 2; Mills Manufacturing Company, 1; Monaghan Mills, 1; McGee 
Manufacturing Company, 1; the Pelham Mills, 1; Piedmont Manufacturing Com- 
pany, 4; F. W. Poe Manufacturing Company, 1; Reedy" River Manufacturing Com- 
pany, 3; Woodside Cotton Mills, .1; Greenwood Cotton Mills, 1; Grendel Cotton 
Mills, 1; Ninety-Six Cotton Mill, 1; Ware Shoals Manufacturing Company, j; 
Hermitage Cotton Mills, 1; Pine Creek Manufacturing Company, 1; Lancaster Cot- 
ton Mills, 2; Laurens Cotton Mills, 2; Lydia Cotton Mills, 1; Watts Mills, 1; Lex- 
ington Manufacturing Company, 1; Middleburg Mills, 1; Saxa-Gotha Mills, 1; Hamer 
Cotton Mills, 1; Marion Manufacturing Company, 1; Marlboro Cotton Mills, 3; 
Glenn-Lowry Manufacturing Company, 1; Mollohon Manufacturing Company, 1; the 
Newberry Cotton Mills, 3; the Courtenay Manufacturing Company, 1; Walhalla 
Cotton Mills, 1; Orangeburg Manufacturing Company, 2; Calumet Manufacturing 
Company, 4; Easley Cotton Mills, 1; Glenwood Cotton Mills, 1; Liberty Cotton Mills, 
1; Norris Cotton Mills Company, 1; Capital City Mills, 1; Columbia Mills Company. 
3; Granby Cotton Mills, 1; Olympia Cotton Mills, 3; Palmetto Cotton Mills, 1; 
Richland Cotton Mills, 1; Apalache Mills, 1; Arcadia Mills, 1; Arkwriglit Mills, 
2; Beaumont Manufacturing Company, I; Clifton Manufacturing Company, 3; D. 33. 
Converse Company, 3; Drayton Mills, 1; Enoree Manufacturing Company, 1; In- 
man Mills, 1; Mary Louise Mills, 1; Pacolet Manufacturing Company, 2; Saxon 
Mills, 2; Tucapau Mills, 2; Tyger Cotton Mills, 2; Victor Manufacturing Company, 
1; Whitney Manufacturing Company, 1; Sumter Cotton Mills, 1; Aetna Cotton Mills, 
1, Jonesville Manufacturing Company, 3; Lockhart Mills, 2; Union-Buffalo Mills 
Company, 3; Aragon Cotton Mills, 1; Clover Cotton Mills 1; Highland Park Manu- 
facturing Company, 1; Manchester Cotton Mills, 1; York Cotton Mills, I. Total, 
161. 

Here, again, the lists are unfortunately incomplete, because of the persistent 
indifference to inquiries. Full reports would easily run the number of churches 
in the mill communities up to two hundred. The corporations in all instances 
contributed to the building of the churches; in fact, in most cases, the building 
fund came entirely from the mill treasury. 



ARTICLE XXII-The Little Pleasures of Life. 

In a previous article I have undertaken to say something about the develop- 
ment of the schools and churches in the cotton mills, and of the "Welfare Work" 
in a general way. There is so much of this that is interesting that I really hate 
to leave so much unsaid; but in closing my observations on "Welfare Work" I 
want to say something of the little joys of life, so to speak, such as the secret 
organizations, the brass bands, orchestras, moving picture exhibitions, base ball 
and even the swimming pools. 

How many corporations, other than cotton mills, provide their help with at- 
tractive swimming pools, and supply them with hot or cold water as the occasion 
may demand, and booths in which they may dress, and yet there are a couple 
of dozen cotton mills in this State to-day that have provided swimming pools or 
bathing facilities for their operatives. Some mills have gone to considerable ex- 
pense for this pleasure; others use their natural water reservoirs. At Rock Hill 
the Victoria Cotton Mills has a building for this purpose. 

The Hamilton-Carhart Mills, at Rock Hill, is going to have a swimming pool 
in connection with its new club house. The swimming pool at the Hickman Me- 
morial Hall, Graniteville, is supplied with hot and cold water and the room steam 
heated. At the Pelzer Cotton Mills the board of directors authorized the expendi- 
ture of a considerable sum of money for a park and swimming pool, and Presi- 
dent Smyth expects to make it very attractive. At the Spartan Mills there are to 
be bath rooms for the help. At Abbeville they are putting in bath rooms; and at 
Graniteville one of the most attractive features of the new memorial hall, in addi- 
tion to the beautiful swimming pool, are the individual porcelain baths that are 
provided for the men and women. The entire arrangements are up-to-date. But 
why go into detail? 

Next to the desire for churches by the mill operatives I believe comes the 
passion for secret societies. Nothing, it seems, gives them more pleasure and offers 
more attractions and opportunities for mixing than the secret societies. All the 
cotton mills appreciate this fact and offer every encouragement for such organi- 
zations. 

As already indicated, the Red Men and the Odd Fellows are the more popular 
organizations; but the Knights of Pythias and the Masons have considerable mem- 
bership in the various mill communities. At a great many of the mills the 
organizations have handsome lodge rooms. One of the largest and most elaborately 
equipped lodge rooms is at the Newberry Cotton Mills, over the school building. 
The Red Men are particularly strong there. 

A great many of the operatives carry life insurance. From what I couid 
understand the Woodmen of the World are quite strong, because of the combina- 
tion of the social and insurance features; and in addition to this organization 
there are a number of operatives who belong to the Knights of Honor, but not so 
many as the Woodmen of the World, and then the operatives very generally carry 
insurance in what are known as the "industrial companies," where the premiums 
are paid weekly or monthly, and the nolicies are smaller than are generally sought 
by old line companies. 

Quite a number of operatives are carrying what are known as old lin<3. policias 
for $1,000 and upwards. 



151 

The operatives, as a class, seem to be thoroughly satisfied with their condi- 
tions. The feeling between the operatives and the executive officers could not oe 
better. I made it a point to ask whether there were any textile or labor unions 
in any of the mills. Some years ago there were labor unions in what is known as 
the Horse Creek Valley, which is the territory between Aiken and Augusta, but 
I was told that there are not now any labor organizations in the Horse Creek 
Valley. In fact one of the superintendents told me that he felt that the cotton 
mills had to go through the trouble with union organizations as children do with 
the measles, and the sooner these troubles were gotten over the better. I asked 
some of the operatives in the Horse Creek Valley if they belonged to labor unions, 
and they told me that they did not, and so far as they knew there were no such 
organizations there. One of the operatives told me that he did not see any use in 
paying fifteen cents a month to the union when the mill officials were doing all 
that they asked or could expect, and in addition to the dues of fifteen cents per 
month he told me the initiation fee was fifty cents. I did not find any labor 
unions or symptoms of such in the entire Piedmont section, Chester, Rock Hill or 
the Pee-Dee. There had been some effort to organize a textile labor union in 
Spartanburg, but from what I could understand there is now no union, there, and 
from the best infomation that I have been able to gather the only textile labor 
union in this State is at Columbia, where I understand the weavers have an or- 
ganization. 



ARTICLE XXIII-Something of the Detail of Welfare Work. 

There is so much that can be said about the actual "Welfare Work" that the 
cotton mills are doing that to go into too much detail would be tiresome, out I 
want to summarize some of the information that has been kindly furnished me 
by the various cotton mills. There is a great deal to be said. It will be intensely 
interesting, and it is well to record such things for future history a ad to let the 
people of the State know something of the details of "Welfare Work." 

ABBEVILLE COTTON MILLS has one school building, which it estimates at 
$400. This building was erected by the mill company and is furnished by them. The 
city taxes of the cotton mill would oe four times sufficient to support the graded 
schools. 

The mill furnishes arc lights for the streets as well as for all the mill village, 
notwithstanding the fact that the mill is within the city limits, and pays its pro 
rata share of city taxes. The school in the mill village has two teachers, who are 
paid by the mill corporation, as are the running expenses of the school. The 
mill is constructing a handsome building, which is to be used in a general way 
for the amusement and pleasure of the operatives. 

At the AETNA COTTON MILLS, in Union, there is one church in the village 
to which the company contributed $2,000 towards the erection. The corporation 
contributes $300 annually for the support of the church, which has an attendance 
of about two hundred. 

The school property is valued at $6,000, and there are six teachers at the 
school; the cotton mill paying a large tax, and there being a number of cotton 
mills in the district, no special fund is necessary from the mill to support the 
school in the mill village. 

The AIKEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, with a mill population of one 
thousand, has a union church, which is used by the Methodist and Baptist 
denominations, and the mill corporation pays $35 per month to the support of 
the ministers, in addition to providing homes and fuel for the pastors. The com- 
pany owns a school building, which is valued at $1,900, which it paid for entirely, 
and it contributes to the support of the school when necessary. There are two 
teachers engaged by this company, and the fuel, lights and supplies come from 
the mill company, as do almost the entire salaries of the teachers. The company 
is about to begin the construction of an auditorium and library, and expects to 
expend fully $5,000 for this purpose. 

The Aiken Manufacturing Company has a hall for social entertainments, in 
which the operatives giVe their dances, school commencements, etc. ( 

The AMERICAN SPINNING COMPANY, at Greenville, has two churches, one 
of the Methodist and the other of the Baptist denomination. The mill corpo- 
ration contributes liberally to the support of both these churches; in addition to 
supplying fuel, light and keeping the property in good repair. 

The American Spinning Company has a splendid school building, which cost 
about $12,000, erected entirely by funds contributed by the corporation. It con- 
tributes annually between $500 and $800 to the support of the school, which employs 
three teachers. 

The public funds are generally the same— from $500 to $800— as are the contribu- 
tions of the mill corporation for the support of the school in the mill village. 



153 

Further in the way of "Welfare Work" the American Spinning Company "nasi a 
library, bath rooms and a large auditorium, 50 by 100 feet, all of which are in one 
building, and the library, in which there are games and other amusements, is 
especially well patronized. The company has a base ball park, and a large and 
beautiful woodland park for the pleasure of its employees. During the winter 
season a number of theatrical amusements are arranged for the pleasure of the 
operatives. 

At the ANDERSON COTTON MILLS there are two churches, one Methodist 
and one Baptist. In addition to supplying the property on which the churches 
are erected, as is the usual custom, the mill corporation contributed $150 to the 
completion of each of these places of worship, and generally contributes $150 per 
annum for the current expenses. The record membership at the Baptist Church 
is three hundred and fifty, and at the Methodist two hundred and fifty. 

The Anderson Mills, which is one of the older cotton mills, erected its own 
school building at a cost of $4,000. The company's funds supply $1,650 for the run- 
ning of this school, and this amount is supplemented by $200 from the com- 
pany's treasury. There are four teachers employed at this school. 

The APALACHE MILLS, at Arlington, in Spartanburg County, has one church 
which was built entirely by the cotton mill. The mill corporation contributes 
annually $110 for the support of the church. 

In the same way the Apalache Mills built the school at a cost of $2,500. It 
contributes from its treasury $650 each year for the support of two teachers, and 
the county contributes $280 towards the support of the same school, which is 
patronized by the help in the cotton mills. 

There is an auditorium over the scnool building, which is used by the help, 
and the young men have a base ball park, from which they derive a great deal of 
pleasure. 

The ARAGON COTTON MILLS, which started work in June, 1907, is just 
beginning to develop its "Welfare Work," but it is the intention of President 
Alex Long to engage in this work upon a considerable scale. The Baptists will 
build the first church in the community, and the Aragon Mill has contributed 
a lot and $500 for this initial church. The corporation will, as soon as the church 
is in readiness, do something for it. 

The mill is not yet sufficiently underway to undertake an independent school, 
and for the present the children connected with the Aragon Mills who attend 
school go to the Manchester Cotton Mills' School, which is nearby, and a small 
tuition fee is paid by the Aragon Company. 

The ARCADE COTTON MILL, of Rock Hill, is very near the churches of the 
city, and most of the operatives of this mill attend the city churches, and the 
Arcade Company contributes to the support of the churches. Two churches are 
being built near the mill and the corporation has contributed a lot and $500. The 
Arcade Cotton Mill has a free kindergarten and free graded schools for all of the 
operatives. It pays $200 to the trustees and furnishes a school building for the 
children of the mill community, in addition to paying its proportion of the school 
tax. The school building is valued at $3,500, and the three teachers are paid 
jointly by the Arcade and Victoria Mills. The county contributes as much as do 
the two mills for the support of the schools. The company provides a base ball 
park for its young men. 

The ARCADIA COTTON MILLS, of Spartanburg, has one church, which 
was built entirely by the mill corporation. The company contributes $100 a year 



154 

to the support of the church, which is attended by one hundred and fifty actual 
members, on whose part the attendance averages one hundred. 

The school building, which cost $500, was erected by the corporation, and one 
teacher is employed to keep the school open for eight months; six months of her 
salary comes from the public funds and the remaining time is paid for by the 
Arcadia Mills. The company has a public library, to which it contributes $60 a 
year, and this is supplemented by gifts. 

The AKKWRIGHT MILLS, of Spartanburg, has two churches, one Baptist 
and the other Methodist. The corporation contributed to the erection of these 
buildings. The membership is one hundred and eighty-one, and the attendance 
averages about three hundred and seventy-five. 

The school building was erected by the Arkwright Mills, and the company 
contributes sufficient means with which to conduct the school for the entire 
session — the company funds being used to maintain the schools for six or seven 
months. 

The Arkwright Mills has a small library, to which the company is adding each 
year. The. company provides occasional amusement for the help. 

At the BAMBERG COTTON MILLS there is one church, to which the corpora- 
tion made a small contribution and gave the lot. This church has only recently 
been erected. 

As the mill is near the graded school the children attend it. 

The BATESVILLE COTTON MILL, which has only forty-seven actual em- 
ployees, has one church, built on land which was contributed for this purpose 
many years ago. It also contributes $20 annually towards the minister's salary. 

The school, which was recently built on land contributed by the cotton mill, 
is near enough for the few children who are in the mill village to attend it. 
There is a library at the Batesville Mill and it is getting to be more generally 
used. 

The BEAUMONT MANUFACTURING COMPANY, near Spartanburg, has one 
church and the corporation contributed three-fourths of its cost. It contributes 
$50 annually to the church, and in addition does such repairing as is necessary, 
as well as supplying the fuel and other incidentals. 

The company pays the salars^ of the teacher employed in connection with the 
school in the mill village. 

At the BELTON COTTON MILLS there are two churches for the two thousand 
operatives and their families in that community. The cotton mill company con- 
tributed $1,000 for the erection of these new churches, and this was supplemented 
by subscriptions from the officials of the company, which is quite ordinary. The 
company contributes $100 per annum for the churches. The membership is about 
230 in the one church and 180 in the other. 

The BELTON MILLS erected a beautiful school building at a cost of $5,000. 
This school has five teachers and the expense for the operation cf the school in 
the way of salaries is $1,300, of which $600 comes from the county funds and 
$800 from the Belton Mills, and in addition to this contribution the mills supply 
the school furniture, light and janitor services; The Belton Mills has a library 
and large hall, which is used by the secret organizations. There are about five 
hundred volumes in the library, which is freely used by the operatives. At Belton 
there is also a brass band and the prize winning base ball team. 



155 

At the BRANDON COTTON MILLS, in Greenville, the church building is urcsd 
toy two denominations. The building- was erected by the corporation as well as 
furnished. The cotton mills supply the lights and fuel for the church, as well 
as contributing $200 annually towards the support of the minister. 

There is a school building at the Brandon Mills, which cost $2,500, erected by 
the mill corporation- The company pays $700 a year towards the salary of three 
teachers and supplies the fuel. The county funds are used to the extent of $450. 
There is a general hall at the Brandon Mills, which is freely used by the help. 

At the BROGAN COTTON MILLS. Anderson, there is a Baptist Church that 
has just been erected, and the cotton mill contributes $300 towards the subscrip- 
tion fund. The mill contributed to the current expenses. This mill isi located near 
the city of Anderson, which has a great number of churches. Many of the 
operatives attend the churches in the city. The Brogan Mills built a $2,000 school 
building, and this school is supported out of the current tax collection; part of 
which is, of course, paid by the mills. There are two teachers at this school. 

At the CALUMET MANUFACTURING COMPANY there are four churches in 
the village. 

The school property is valued at $12,000 and there are five teachers employed. 
The regular taxes support the school. * 

The CAMPERDOWN MILLS, located in the city of Greenville, has one Bap- 
tist Church and one Methodist Church. The buildings were put up entirely by the 
corporation, and the company provides one-fourth of the salary of each of the 
pastors. 

The mill being in the very centre of the city of Greenville, and one block 
from the United States postomce, is convenient to the public schools, and the 
children attend the city schools. The company does everything possible to induce 
the children to attend the city schools, and when possible insists upon their doing 
so. During the past year the Camperdown Company maintained a kindergarten, 
with one regular teacher and two assistants. The company also maintained a 
night school and paid an officer of the Salvation Army to teach there every 
night. This school costs the company $35 per month, and light and heat are 
supplied in addition. 

At the CAPITAL CITY MILLS, in Columbia, there is one very pretty little 
church, which was erected entirely by the corporation. 

The school building, which cost at least $1,000, was also erected entirely by the 
Capital City Mills. The two school teachers employed are paid entirely by the mill 
corporation, and the county funds do not in anywise contribute to the support of 
the school, which is in the mill village. The company has supplied a hall at a cost 
of $2,500 for the use of its help, and this hall is used for general amusement and 
recreation. 

The HAMILTON CARHART COTTON MILLS, of which Mr Hamilton Carhart, 
of Detroit, is president, contemplates "Welfare Work" on an extensive scale. Mr 
Carhart has distinguished himself by his generosity in connection with this "Wel- 
fare Work" at his plants. He has just entered the manufacturing field in South 
Carolina, and his plants here are not yet fully matured. For the present the help 
have only one small church, which is near the village, to which the mill contrib- 
utes, and they have a small school building, but one costing $5,000, which is to be 
used for school and club purposes, is now, under way. The new $5,000 club house 
will be equipped with baths, libraries, class rooms, amusement halls, etc, and the 
company is co-operating in the organization of a brass band of twenty-two pieces. 



156 

At the CAROLINA MILLS, in Greenville, there is one church, which was ouiltr 
on the lands of the company by the Y. P. B. U. 

The same building that is utilized by the church is used for school purposes. 
The mill is in Greenville, and consequently the children have the advantages or 
the city schools. The corporation maintains a school and pays the entire salary 
of the teacher. 

The CHEROKEE FALLS MANUFACTURING COMPANY has one church, 
which is used by three denominations. The church was built by the corporation, 
and the corporation contributes annually about 50 per cent of all the salaries of 
the preachers. About 40 per cent of the total population of the village attend 
the church. 

The school house was erected entirely by the corporation, and the building 
now in use is to be replaced by one to be erected next spring, which is to cost 
about $5,000. At present the school is in charge of one teacher. The company 
supplements the public fund, so as to run this school for eight months each year. 
The Sunday-school has a small general library, which is used by the help. 

The CHESWELL COTTON MILL is located in the town of Westminster, where 
there are four regular churches, and these are attended by the operatives. 

The graded school of the town is very good, and is attended by the children 
of the mill village. The company contributes $400 annually towards the support of 
the school. 

At CHIQUOLA COTTON MILLS, at Honea Path, the employees xttend any 
of the three churches in the town, besides having Baptist and Methodist churches 
in the mill village proper, and worship in a hall built by the company for frater- 
nal organizations. The Sunday-school in this hall, which is undenominational, is 
perhaps the most popular institution at the mill. The Chiquola * Mills are taxed 
$1,600 per annum for school purposes, and the school at the mills is under the 
same trustees and superintendent as the schools in the town of Honea Path. The 
smaller children attend the mill school, and the more advanced scholars attend the 
central school. This arrangement works very satisfactorily. The Chiquola Mills 
built the mill's school, in conjunction with a hall, at a cost of $3,000. The mill has 
a public library, which is run for the benefit of its employees, and about $200 is 
contributed each year for the acquisition of new book®. 

There are three churches at CLIFTON. The CLIFTON MANUFACTURING 
COMPANY contributed one-fourth of the total cost of these buildings, and makes 
liberal contributions monthly towards the support of the pastors. 

The Clifton Company has a very fine school building, which it erected at a 
cost of $9,000. There are six teachers in the schools— which are considered very 
fine. 

The CLOVER MANUFACTURING COMPANY has one church in the village, 
and it contributes about $100 annually towards the support of the minister. 

The COLUMBIA MILLS COMPANY has its mill village in New Brookland, 
which is on the opposite side of the Congaree River from the city of Columbia. 
The population is consequently somewhat scattered between New Brookland and 
Columbia. There are three churches connected with the village, to which the 
officers of the company contribute liberally. The churches in addition each re- 
ceive $100 annually for their maintenance. 

The schools that are provided are largely supported out of public funds— one 
of the teachers being paid by the Columbia Mills Company. 



157 

The company is now erecting-, at a cost of $9,000 to $10,000, a splendid assembly 
hall, and this building will soon be available to the help of the Columbia Mills 
Company. 

There are three churches connected with the D. E. CONVERSE COMPANY. 
The corporation contributed 50 per cent of the cost of each of these churches, and 
gives a stated amount monthly towards the support of the churches. 

The school property is conservatively estimated as being" worth $2,500, and It 
was built entirely by the company. Until recently the corporation has been pay- 
ing the entire expenses of the school, and for the last two years the public funds 
have been sufficient to pay the two teachers connected with the school, which fa 
in the mill village. 

The COURTENAY MANUFACTURING COMPANY has one beautiful church 
building, for which it paid $3,500. It contributes $100 annually towards the support 
of the minister. 

The Courtenay Manufacturing Company was also very liberal in the matter of 
erecting a school building and invested $2,500 in this structure. The company 
pays one-half of the total expenses of the school and the county contributes the 
remaining portion of the expenses, which aggregate $1,200 per annum. There are 
two teachers connected with the school. 

More of the detail connected with the church and school work will be given 
in other letters— this being only through the letter "C." It is hoped that it will 
prove interesting. 



ARTICLE XXIV- Further Details of Welfare Work. 

Continuing the interesting detail relative to some of the "Welfare Work" at 
various mills in the State, it may be noted that: 

The DARLINGTON MANUF ACT! .'RING COMPANY has two churches con- 
nected with its village, and the corporation contributed about $2,000 towards the 
structures. The corporation also contributes annually towards the support of the 
ministers. 

The Darlington Company also invested $2,000 in its school building, and supports 
the school entirely out of its corporation funds, paying the entire expenses of the 
two teachers. 

The company has a Lyceum hall, which cost about $1,000, and a lodge room, 
which cost about $2,000. The Lyceum hall is fitted up for amusements. 

The DRAYTON COTTON MILLS has a school house and church combined. 
This substantial building was erected by the corporation and answers all pur- 
poses at the Drayton Mills. 

The company has for the past three years paid all expenses incident to the run- 
ning of the school, but it now expects support from the public school funds. 

The EASLEY COTTON MILLS has one union church, which is used by three 
denominations. The church was erected entirely by the mill, and the corporation 
contributes annually towards the support of the pastors. The membership of the 
churches is recorded at three hundred and the attendance averages two hundred 
and fifty. 

The school building, which cost $7,500, was erected by the Easley Cotton Mills 
Company, and the school is .now maintained entirely by the county, except that the 
corporation contributes each year prizes, etc. 

In the village of the EDGEFIELD MANUFACTURING COMPANY there is 
one church building, which is also used for school purposes. This building wa3 
erected by the corporation. 

The school is supported entirely by the corporation funds, and the company 
pays the expenses as well as the teacher, receiving no support from the county. 

The company has a well located park for the pleasure of its help. 

The ENOREE MANUFACTURING COMPANY has one union church, which 
was erected by the corporation at a cost of $3,800. The company contributes $150 
annually towards the support of the ministers. 

The school building, which cost $4,000, was also erected entirely by the cor- 
poration. The public funds do not in anywise contribute to the support of the 
school at Enoree. The company pays out of its funds $1,575 annually for the three 
teachers and other expenses incident to the running of the school. 

The Enoree Company has also provided an amusement hall at a cost of ?2,u00, 
and in this amusement hall there is a well patronized library and a hall for secret 
societies. There is a skating rink in the village. 

At the EUREKA COTTON MILLS, Chester, there is one general church, which 
was furnished by the corporation at a cost of $500. The officers of the mill contrib- 
ute to the support of the church expenses and help pay the salary of the minis- 
ters. 

The Eureka Mills are located in Chester, and the public school is just four 



159 

blocks away from, the village. The children of the community attend the schools 
in the city of Chester. 

At the FAIRFIELD COTTON MILLS, in Winnsboro, there are two churches. 
The corporation contributed 25 per cent of the cost of the buildings, and donates 
annually a similar proportion towards the expenses of the congregations. Both 
of the churches are well attended. 

The school house, which cost $1,000, was erected by the corporation. The teacher 
employed is paid by the county. The company is; liberal to its help in anything 
they may undertake. 

At the FORK SHOALS COTTON MILL there are two nearby churches, but 
the company, for the convenience of che help, has erected a chapel, contributing 
one-half of the expense of this building. The Fork Shoals Company has re- 
cently made an offer of the land and other help towards the erection of a $2,000 
high school building, and this proposition is likely to be accepted. The company 
has a public hall and play-grounds, which are maintained for the pleasure of its 
help. 

At the FOUNTAIN INN MANUFACTURING COMPANY'S plant there Is one 
church, which was erected entirely by the mill corporation, and the company con- 
tributes two-thirds of the salary of the pastors. 

The school building was erected entirely by the Fountain Inn Company at a cost 
of $2,000. The school is maintained eight months each year, and one-half of the 
expenses are contributed each by the county and the corporation. 

The FRANKLIN MILLS has one church in the village, and the company con- 
tributed three-fourths of the cost of this place of worship. 

The children from this community attend the graded schools in the town of 
Greer. 

The GAFFNET MANUFACTURING COMPANY contributes to the support of 
the two churches in the village, and the corporation erected the church buildings 
at a cost of $2,000. The record membership is four hundred and fifty at thes-3 
churches, and the attendance is about eight hundred. 

The school in the mill village is supported by the city out of taxes, to which 
the Gaffney Manufacturing Company contributes its pro rata share. The building 
was erected by the corporation at a cost of $1,000. There are four teachers con- 
nected with the school, and the cost of maintenance being $1,305 per annum. 

The Gaffney Company has a library, with a limited number of selected books 
that are freely read by the operatives. The corporation manages the library. 

The GLENN-LOWRY MANUFACTURING COMPANY is located in the town 
of Whitmire. There is a chapel in the village, which was erected by the mill cor- 
poration, and which is used for religious and educational purposes. 

The graded school of Whitmire is near the mill village, and the children of the 
community attend this school. 

The taxes, which go to the support of this school, are largely paid by the mill 
corporation. The assessed value of the property in the district is of sufficient 
amount to create a revenue ample for school purposes. In addition to the public 
school, however, there is a school in the mill village for the younger children, 
supported by the mill people and to which the officers of the mill contribute. The 
funds for this school are raised by private subscription, to which the operatives 
and officers, including the president of the company, contribute. 

There are, in Whitmire, two churches in addition to the chapel mentioned, 



160 

and the mill company contributes annually to the religious work in the town- 
one of these churches having been built largely by the aid of the Glenn-Lowry 
Manufacturing Company. 

At the GLEN WOOD COTTON MILLS, in Easley, there is a handsome church 
building, which cost about $5,000. This building was erected by the corporation. 

The school property is valued at $1,000, and this was erected by the corpora- 
tion. The company pays one-third of the expenses of running the school and the 
county contributes the remaining two-thirds. 

THE GLOBE MANUFACTURING COMPANY is located on the edge of the city 
of Gaffney, and the children of the mill village attend the graded schools. The 
city churches are attended by the operatives. 

The GLUCK MILLS, at Anderson, devotes the up-stairs of its school building 
for religious purposes, and the various denominations worship there. The Baptist, 
Methodist and Presbyterian denominations have a church membership of one hun- 
dred and thirty-five. The mill contributes annually $150 towards the support of 
these services. The mill built a beautiful school building at a cost of $6,000 to 
$8,000. The county contributes about $500 for the support of the school, and this 
is supplemented by $150 by the cotton' mill. There are two teachers regularly em- 
ployed at this school; the mill population numbering eight hundred. 

The school house, being very large and commodious, has ample room in the' 
upper floor for the secret societies. 

At the GRANBY COTTON MILLS, in Columbia, there is one handsome Meth- 
odist Church. The corporation contributes $300 annually towards the support of 
this church. 

The graded school, in the city limits, is patronized by the children of the 
Granby village. The corporation, however, pays all of the expenses incident to 
the kindergarten, which is conducted by two competent teachers. The company 
also supplies the building, as well as the necessary furniture, heat, light, etc. 

There is an armory, lodge rooms and club rooms for the young men in the 
Granby village, provided by the corporation. The company expects, during the 
winter season, to provide a series of interesting lectures for the entertainment of 
the operatives. In a previous article I have written of the "Welfare Work'* at 
Granby. 

At GRANITEVILLE there are six churches, with a mill population of three 
thousand. The cotton mill company provided about one-third of the money with 
which to erect these buildings. There is no definite amount fixed for the con- 
tribution of the corporation to the churches. In the matter of schools the old 
school building, which has been a landmark at Graniteville for many years, has 
been modernized, extended and equipped with up-to-date apparatus. It was 
erected exclusively by the mill corporation, and in addition to the quota of taxes 
that the mill pays, it contributes $2,000 annually towards the support of the school, 
and altogether there are eight teachers who are engaged for a full term, when- 
ever the State funds are not sufficient to pay them for the entire time the mill 
corporation supplements the State funds. The mill company has recently erected 
the beautiful Hickman Memorial Hall, which is the handsomest building in the 
State devoted exclusively for the amusement of any class of workers in South 
Carolina, whether they are in a cotton mill or outside of it. This new memorial 
hall, which I had the pleasure of recently visiting, cost $25,000, and is equipped 
with every conceivable amusement. The Graniteville Company co-operates with 
the military band and encourages it with contributions. 



161 

At the GREENWOOD COTTON MILLS the union church was erected oy the 
mill corporation. The church is used by the various denominations, hut there is 
no regular organization of any one of them. 

The village is near the city churches, and the people of the mill community 
have their membership and attend the city churches rather than organize for sepa- 
rate services at the mill chapel. 

The Greenwood Mill is near the city graded schools, and the operatives send 
their children to these schools, as they are as good as can be had. Only the smaller 
■children attend the mill school, which is maintained by the trustees of the city 
graded school. 

The hours and system at the mill school are the same as at the graded school. 

The GRENDEL COTTON MILLS, at Greenwood, has one church, which was 
erected at a total cost to the corporation of $1,200. The company pays out of its 
treasury $200 for the support of the minister. 

The school building, which was erected at a cost of $800 by the Grendel Mills 
Corporation, is very convenient for the children in the village. The corporation 
contributes $500 annually towards the support of the school; the county giving one- 
fourth of the total expenses, the mill the remaining three-fourths. President 
McKissick, of the Grendel Mills, is developing the "Welfare Work" very rapidly, 
and has recently invested $2,500 in a library and Lyceum building. There are 
amusement rooms in this Lyceum building, and the help find a great deal of pleas- 
ure in visiting it. 

At the HAMER COTTON MILL, Hamer, the operatives have a regular Sunday 
afternoon Sabbath-school, and they attend the different churches in the neighbor- 
hood and the village school. They are not yet a sufficiently large community to 
have separate schools, as the graded schools of the town are very good. Presi- 
dent Hamer, of the cotton mills, is decidedly of the opinion that something should 
be done to require the children to attend the school, as the opportunities now 
offered are far better than are accepted by the children. 

The HARTSVILLE COTTON MILL COMPANY, Hartsville, has one church, to 
which it contributed $600 for the erection of the building. It contributes $100 for 
the support of this church. 

The school building was erected at a cost of $1,200 to the corporation. The com- 
pany contributes $100 a year towards the support of the school. The corporation 
is now arranging to erect a general amusement and recreation hall. Considerable 
money is to be spent on this building. 

The HERMITAGE COTTON MILLS, at Camden, has a Baptist Church, which 
is supported by private contributions, and the managers and owners are liberal in 
their personal contributions to the support of this church. 

The public schools, which are excellent, are near the village, and, as these 
schools are supported by the general tax fund, the children of the Hermitage Cot- 
ton Mills attend the public schools. 

The HIGHLAND PARK COMPANY" has one church in its village, which was 
erected at a cost of $100. 

The school building is also in the village, and the corporation supplies the 
building, fuel, etc. There are two teachers at this school. 

At the HUGUENOT COTTON MILLS the children of the village find it con- 
venient to attend the city schools of Greenville, which are close by. The operatives 
also attend the churches of the community, of which the Huguenot Mills is a 
part. 



162 

The INMAN MILLS, in Spartanburg: County, has a chapel, which is for the 
use of all denominations. It cost the corporation $730 50. The corporation also 
supplies a manse for its ministers free, and makes a small contribution towards 
the minister's salary. There is no church membership, but there is a union Sun- 
day-school attendance of about two hundred. 

The school property is valued at $8,000, of which amount the mill corporation 
contributed $4,800. It also contributes $360 annually towards the pay of the four 
teachers who are engaged in the schools. The public funds do not contribute to 
the support of the school. 

The ISSAQUENA MILLS is located about one-quarter of a mile from town, 
and on that account the help attend the four churches in the town and patron- 
ize the schools of the community. 

The JACKSON COTTON MILLS, which is just starting np^. has three churches 
in the town of Iva, where that mill is located. The churches are in a prosperous 
condition and do not solicit contributions from the mill. The Jackson Mills has 
erected a school building with a hall at a cost of about $1,500 in the mill villag-e. 
The school will be supported by general taxes. 

The JORDON MANUFACTURING COMPANY is located in the town of Wel- 
ford, and the help attend the schools and churches in that community. 

At the JONESVILLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY there are three churches. 

The town of Jonesville is in a very nourishing condition and maintains an 
excellent graded school, in which reven teachers are employed. The children of 
the Jonesville Mills are welcomed to these schools and attend them largely. 

The LANCASTER COTTON MILLS supports both a Methodist and Baptist 
Church. The church buildings cost about $4,000, and the corporation contributed 
the land and 60 per cent of the cost. The president of the corporation and other 
officers contribute largely out of their personal funds to the support of the 
churches. 

The graded schools of the town of Lancaster are accessible to the children, 
and in addition there is a temporary school on the property of the Lancaster Mills, 
which is conducted by the school trustees. This temporary building is to be 
replaced by the mill school. 

Incidentally it might be suggested that the Lancaster Mills pays over one-half 
of the total school tax of the district. The company has provided a library and 
has arranged a desirable play-ground for the help. The hall, which is used for 
public entertainments, is over the company's store, and cost about $2,000. 

The LANGLEY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, at Langley, has two substan- 
tial churches, for a population of 3,500, and the company contributes $900 annually 
towards these churches. The record membership at the two churches is two hun- 
dred and sixty, with an average attendance of fifty. 

The company built the school building at a cost of $1,500, and appropriates $440 
annually to supplement the school funds, which amount to $1,540. There are five 
teachers employed at this school, which runs through the entire season. The com- 
pany has commenced building a gymnasium and Opera House, and bath rooms. 
The improvements were made at a cost of $2,000, and others are in view. 

The LAURENS COTTON MILLS, in the town of Laurens, has two churches. 
The company contributed the lots and $2,500 to each of the buildings, and con- 
tributes $175 annually to the churches. The attendance is over 200 at each of the 
churches. 



163 

The school building was erected in 1904, entirely by the corporation, at a cost 
of $11,147. The schools are conducted entirely by the Laurens Cotton Mills, no 
part of the expense being borne by the county out of its school fund. The 
company provides a Lyceum course, which is composed of six good attractions. 
These Lyceum entertainments are attended by more than 225 employees, and a 
great deal of pleasure is derived, as vvell as from the additional attractions, such 
as plays, lectures, etc, that are provided. 

The LEXINGTON MANUFACTURING COMPANY has its plant near the to v/n 
of Lexington, and the help attend the churches in that community. There is also 
one church at the mill, and the corporation has always contributed freely to this 
place of worship. 

The children attend the schools of the town. 

The LIBERTY COTTON MILLS, at Liberty, in Pickens County, has one church, 
the cost of which was largely borne by the corporation. 

Practically all the current expenses are paid by the corporation and the 
churches are well attended. 

There is one modest school building in the village, and the corporation con- 
tributes two-thirds of the cost of this building. The support of the school rests 
primarily on the county, but whatever is needed to supplement public funds and 
insure the running of the school for the full scholastic term, is provided by the 
mill company. Last year the contribution amounted to one-half of the expenses. 

The LIMESTONE MILLS, at Gaffney, has one church in the village, which 
was erected by the corporation. The support of the ministers comes largely 
through the operatives, which is partially supplemented by the corporation. The 
attendance of this church is about one hundred. The children, in the Limestone 
Mill village, attend the graded schools, that are excellent, and the county 
receives the pro rata share of the mill taxes for the support of the schools. 

The LOCKHART MILLS, at Lockhart, has two church buildings and three 
religious organizations. The company contributes 75 per cent of the total cost of 
these churches, and now contributes about half of the entire expenses. 

There is a very convenient school building at Lockhart, which cost the cor- 
poration $2,500. Four teachers are employed at this school, and the corporation 
contributes 85 per cent, and the county the remaining 15 per cent of the total 
cost of the support of the schools at Lockhart. 

The company now has in view the erection of a library, which is to cost 
$3,000. 

The LYDIA COTTON MILLS, at Clinton, has one church in the village, 
which was built by the corporation The company also contributes $150 per an- 
num towards the support of the minister. 

The church building is also used for school purposes. The Lydia Mills pays 
the $500 necessary to the support of the school, and the county does not contrib- 
ute at all to the support of this school. 

The MANETTA MILLS, at Lando, in Chester County, has three churches in 
the village. The corporation contributed 50 per cent of the total cost of these 
churches and now contributes 50 per cent of the current expenses. 

The school facilities are excellent and a $15,000-building was erected by the 
corporation for school purposes. The company maintains one-half of the expenses 
of the school, the other half being oorne by the county. In a note. President H. 
B. Heath, of the Manetta Mills, says- "Since the establishment of a first-class 
school the personnel of our operatives has greatly improved." 



164 

The MANCHESTER COTTON MILLS, at Rock Hill, in York County, has one 
hall and one church, which cost about $1,000— one-half of which was paid by 
the corporation. The company also contributes about $200 annually towards the 
support of the church, which has a membership of about seventy-five. 

The school building- was erected at a cost of $600, and the teacher is paid 
entirely by the corporation out of the special school tax. The Manchester Mill 
also supports a library, which is growing - in popularity. It has a pond, which is 
used by the help for fishing and rowing. 

The MARION MANUFACTURING COMPANY has one church, to which it 
contributes each year. The membership is seventy and the attendance at the 
church about three hundred. 

The school at the mill is run in connection with the city graded schools of 
Marion, and the county pays the teacher, while the corporation supplies the 
building, fuel, lights, etc. The company also provides a reading room, which is 
well patronized, especially so in the winter months. 

There are three churches connected with the MARLBORO COTTON MILLS 
COMPANY, that has five small mills at McColl and one at Bennettsville. The 
company provided about 40 per cent of the total cost of these churches which is 
estimated at about $6,000. 

There is a school at Bennettsville and another at McColl in the mill villages 
which are now conducted by the county, but which were formerly in charge 
of the mill company. There is a competent teacher at each of these schools 
and they are well patronized. 

The MARY-LOUISE COTTON MILLS, at Cowpens, in Spartanburg County, 
has one church, which is attended by about one hundred of the operatives of the 
mill community. 

The children attend the county school, which is open for six months in the 
year. 

There is one church at the McGEE MANUFACTURING COMPANY'S plant, 
which was erected by the corporation. The company supplies such funds as 
may be necessary to make up any deficiency for the support of the church. 
The average attendance is about fifty at services and there is regular Sunday- 
school service twice a month. 

The company is arranging to have a regular school at the mill, which has 
recently undergone a change in Its manufacturing, as it is now weaving blankets, 
etc. 

The MIDDLEBURG MILLS, at Batesburg, has one church, and this church 
building is also used for school purposes. The school is in charge of a compe- 
tent teacher, whose salary is paid partly by the corporation. This company 
makes an innovation by giving its help an annual barbecue. 

There is one union church at the plant of the MILLS MANUFACTURING 
COMPANY, of Greenville. This building was erected entirely by the corporation, 
and the company is liberal in its annual contributions to the support of the 
church. 

The school building was erected entirely by the mill at a cost of $1,000. 

The school district is made up entirely of the territory covered by the mill, 
and, therefore, the mill itself pays the entire expenses of the support of the 
school, which employs two teachers. The company has also provided a large 
auditorium at a cost of $4,000, and a small club room at a cost of $300. Both of 



165 

these buildings are very much used by the help, and the auditorium which is 
sufficiently commodious for all manner of amusements, is very much in demand by 
the help. The company has also provided a tennis court and a croquet ground. 
The MILL FORT, or Fort Mill property, is in the town of Fort Mill, and the 
children of the mill village attend the schools, and the operatives worship at the 
churches in the town. Both the churches and the schools welcome the operatives 
from the mill village. 

The MOLLOHON MANUFACTURING COMPANY is in the suburbs of New- 
berry. It supports one union church, and the corporation contributed the entire 
cost of this pretty building. The church membership is about one hundred and 
seventy-five and the attendance averages two hundred. 

The school building was erected at a cost of about $500, by the Mollohon 
Company, and the corporation also pays the expenses of the teacher and of the 
school out of its funds. The public funds are not available for the support of 
this school. 

The MONAGHAN MILLS, at Greenville, has one church in the village prop- 
er. It was erected at a cost of $1,500. 

There is a large schoool building on the mill property which was erected en- 
tirely by the corporation. It contributes $850 annually towards the support of 
the school, and the county gives an equal amount for the pay of the teachers. 
The school is in excellent condition. The company contributes $2,000 annually 
towards the support of the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A., and particular men- 
tion has already been made of the efficient work of both these associations at 
the Monaghan Mills. 

The NEELY MANUFACTURING COMPANY has its plant in the town of 
Yorkville, and the children of the mill community patronize the schools that are 
supported by the county, and the operatives attend the regular church services 
in the town of Yorkville. 

The company has just completed a large bath house, which is available free 
of all cost to the help. It also provides an annual picnic, banquet and dance for 
the pleasure of the operatives. 

At the NEWBERRY COTTON MILLS there are three churches, of which the 
cost on the part of the corporation was about $500 each. . The company contrib- 
utes to the support of these churches and provides a parsonage free of rent. 

The school building, which is a very substantial brick structure, and which 
is used for other than school purposes, was built by the company at a cost of $10,- 
000. The cotton mill pays all of the school expenses, including the pay of the 
teachers. The county has not yet contributed to the support of this mill school. 
The upper floor of the school building is used by the secret orders, which have 
elaborately furnished lodge rooms, and there are several large rooms on the sec- 
ond floor that are used for banquets and other entertainments. The school 
building is in the heart of the mill village, and there are very few buildings 
used for school purposes anywhere that are any better equipped or more con- 
veniently arranged. 

At The NINETY-SIX MILL there s one church which was erected at a cost 
of $1,500 by the mill corporation, which also contributes $150 annually towards its 
support. 

The school building was also erected,, by the company at a cost of $700; in 
this case also the entire expense was borne by the corporation. Three-fourths 



166 

of the expenses of the school are paid by the cotton mill, and the remaining one- 
fourth by the county. The company has also provided a commodious building in 
which are the library, lyceum and game rooms, which are much used by the 
help, and which would be a very good type of building for other enterprises that 
have no such building. 

The NORRIS COTTON MILLS contributed one-half of the total cost of the 
church in the community. It also built, at its own expense, the $2,500 school 
building. At present the county funds are sufficient to run the school for a term 
of nine months, and it is not necessary for the mill corporation to supplement 
this further than its legitimate portion of its school tax. The school is located 
in the mill village. The company has also erected a hall at a cost of $1,500, which 
is used for various entertainments given to and by the help; this hall is also 
used for lodge purposes. 

The OCTORARO MILLS, near the village of Clio, is so near that community 
that they have no separate church or school, but the village churches are patron- 
ized. 

There are two schools near the village. 

Mention has already been made of the school and church work undertaken 
at the OLYMPIA COTTON MILL, and it is needless to duplicate at this time. 

The ORANGEBURG MANUFACTURING COMPANY has one Methodist 
Church and one Baptist Church, together with a Sunday-school room. The mill 
corporation contributed seventy-five per cent of the expense of building. The help 
support the churches, and about forty per cent of the operatives belong to the 
congregations. 

The school building cost the company $2,500, and the support comes entirely 
from the cotton mill, with the exception of a small portion, which is contributed 
by city missions. A number of the children from the mill village attend the city 
graded schools that are within a "stone's throw" of the mill. It is the inten- 
tion of the Orangeburg Manufacturing Company to start a night school this fall. 
.' The ORR COTTON MILLS, at Anderson, has two churches, with a member- 
ship of three hundred. The mill corporation contributed the land and fifteen 
per cent of the total cost of the church building, and contributes annually about 
$100 to each of the churches. 

The mill corporation owns the school building, which it erected at a cost of 
$1,000, and the public funds are sufficient to run this school, which is in the mill 
village, for six months, and the cotton mill continues the school for the re- 
maining three months of the session out of its own funds. There are three teach- 
ers at the school. The mill has a general entertainment hall, in which the 
library is located. This building, together with the books and other equipment, 
cost about $4,000. The mill has supplied all the instruments that are used by 
the brass band. 

The PACOLET MANUFACTURING COMPANY has two churches in its vil- 
lage, one of the Baptist and the other of the Methodist denomination. The mill 
company provided $5,000 for the erection of the buildings and contributes $200 an- 
nually towards the support of the churches. 

The school building, which was built by the corporation, cost $5,000, and the 
school now annually receives $1,200 from the Pacolet Company and $800 from the 
county school fund for the support of the excellent school. There are five teach- 
ers regularly employed at the Pacolet school, which has been in successful op- 
eration for many years. 



167 

The PALMETTO COTTON MILLS has one church in its village, which was 
built entirely by the mill corporation. The church membership is fifty-two, while 
the average attendance is one hundred. The Palmetto Company has one school 
building which it erected at a cost of $1,000. The school is supported partly by 
the county and the corporation. The mill also runs a night school, paying the 
teacher who conducts this school $48 per month. The company also has a hall 
which is available for meetings and for the practice of the brass band. 

At the PELHAM MILLS the church was erected entirely at the expense of 
the president of the corporation, and the company pays about one-third of the 
total expenses of conducting the services. The membership of the church is 
about two hundred and the average attendance fully three hundred. 

The school at Pelham is supported entirely by the cotton mill, the company 
appropriating $400, the necessary building fuel, light for the school. The building 
was constructed at the expense of the corporation. The county makes no contri- 
bution for the support of the schools. The Pelham Mill has a club house and 
gymnasium for the pleasure of its help. 



ARTICLE XXIV— Details of Welfare Work (Continued.) 

At the PELZER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, which was one of the pio- 
neers in "Welfare work," there are six churches. The mill corporation contrib- 
uted $9,500 for the erection of these various church buildings, and now con- 
tributes at least $500 annually towards the support of these churches, and in ad- 
dition supplies the parsonages. The attendance at the churches is very good 
and the record membership at this time is nine hundred. 

The Pelzer Company has erected handsome school buildings at a cost of $12,- 
000 and contributes out of its treasury $3,700 annually for the support of these 
schools. The county funds are less than the amount supplied by the Pelzer 
Manufacturing ^Company for its schools. These schools are all in the mill vil- 
lage, and in addition to the regular schools the company maintains a kindergar- 
ten with two teachers, and there is an average attendance of ninety-six at this 
kindergarten. 

In the matter of "welfare work," to summarize, the Pelzer Manufacturing 
Company has an independent library, lyceum and play room, and in addition 
the Y. W. C. A. workers, who are paid by the mill, do such work as comes 
within their line, and in addition instruct in cooking and other economies. The 
cost of these various items is about $3,500. The Pelzer Company owns a library 
with six thousand volumes. It has a night school, a large social hall, roller 
skating rink, one of the best military companies in the State and the 3d regi- 
mental Band. At a recent meeting of the board of trustees President Smyth was 
authorized to spend $5,500 on a park, which is to be between the mill village and 
the railroad station, and in addition to this woodland being arranged as a park 
there is to be a pavilion, for skating or dancing, 150x75 feet, and a bathing pool, 
complete in every respect. The swimming pool is to be 100x50 fet, and will be 
two feet deep at one end and seven feet deep at the other, to be filled with 
fresh running water. This is, of course, to be entirely free to all the people of 
Pelzer under proper restrictions as to the dressing rooms or use of bathing 
suits, etc. This additional amusement and pleasure resort is well under way 
at Pelzer. 

The PENDLETON MANUFACTURING COMPANY has. one church which 
was erected by the cotton mill. In the matter of school facilities it has a 
modern school building, which was erected at a cost of $500— the amount being 
entirely contributed by the mill corporation. The teacher, who is employed at the 
Pendleton Manufacturing Company's school, is paid out of the county funds. 
The mill, which is one of the oldest in the State, maintains a park in the 
magnificent grove on the banks of the stream that runs the mill. 

The F. W. POE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, of Greenville, has a very 
handsome union church in its village which it erected at a cost to the corpora- 
tion of $8,000. The company contributes annually from $600 to $1,000. This union 
church is used by three denominations, and the attendance is good. 

The school building was erected at a cost of $6,000 to the corporation at the 
Instance of the president of the company. The county pays about $800 per an- 
num and the cotton mill an equal amount for the support of the school, which 
employs four teachers. The school is in the mill village and the attendance is 
unusually good. The Poe Company has devoted a considerable amount of 



169 

money to the development of its "welfare work" and its society hal lalone, which 
is over the company's store, cost about $7,000. The public library, the special 
school library, the auditorium, which is over the school building, the T. W. C. 
A. Hall, the society and amusement halls are all provided for the pleasure of 
the help, and of course there is no expense in the use of these buildings to the 
people of the mill community. 

The PIEDMONT MANUFACTURING COMPANY has devoted a great deal of 
its money during previous administrations, as well as that of President Beattie, 
towards the development of "welfare work." Briefly stated — but without giving 
as much credit as might be— it may be stated that there are four churches in 
the village— and Piedmont is distinctly a cotton mill village. 

The four churches are of the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Wesleyan 
Methodist denominations. Each church owns its own parsonage, with the excep- 
tion of the Presbyterian. The Piedmont Company gave the site and $725 towards 
the building of the Methodist Church; $500 to {he Baptist, and $500 to the Pres- 
byterian Church, and 25 per cent of the total cost of the Wesleyan parsonage. The 
corporation does not obligate itself to a regular contribution toward the support 
of the churches, but contributes such amounts as may be necessary. The record 
of membership is: Baptist 610, Presbyterian 100, Methodist 250 to 300, Wesleyan 
Methodist 150 to 200. 

There are three school buildings on the property; the cost of each was 
$5,000. The schools are run for nine months, beginning with the kindergarten 
grade and run on up through the regular graded school course. There are six 
teachers in addition to the principal and kindergarten workers. The county con- 
tributed $1,594 10 towards the support of the Piedmont schools last year, and the 
cotton mill corporation supplements the county funds to the extent of from $1,000 
to $1,200 in addition to supplying the school rooms. The library, which is con- 
veniently situated contains 3,316 volumes, and the records indicate that the av- 
erage monthly application for books number 634. The company is now arrang- 
ing to erect a more commodious library, which will have reading rooms, gym- 
nasium, club room, and an additional amusement hall. At present a very large 
hall, over several stores, is used as a theatre, general amusement hall, and has 
been equipped as a skating rink. During the year President . Beattie has ar- 
ranged for a number of stereopticon and "moving picture" shows which are 
given monthly for the pleasure of the help. It might be noted that the kinder- 
garten has two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, as the 
number of children is so large that they cannot all be accommodated at one 



The PINE CREEK MANUFACTURING COMPANY has one church, and it 
contributed $200 and the land on which the building was erected. The city pub- 
lic schools of Camden are patronized by the school children. 

The REEDY RIVER MANUFACTURING COMPANY has three churches: 
Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian. It contributed 25 per cent of the cost of 
construction and the land in each instance. It contributes annually such 
amounts as may be necessary to properly maintain each of the churches that 
is not otherwise provided. 

There is one school building in the village which cost the corporation $2,500. 
Last year the corporation contributed $259 30 to insure the running of the school 
for a term of nine months. The county funds, contributed during the same pe- 
riod, amounted to $464 80. 



170 

The REEDY RIVER COMPANY maintains a library of five hundred vol- 
umes, and in addition it supplies the operatives with current magazines and pe- 
riodicals. The library is very generally used by the help. The company also 
has a pond on which the help have a number of row boats. 

The RICHLAND COTTON MILL is located on the outer edge of the city 
of Columbia. There is one commodious church in the village, which was built 
at the expense of the corporation. 

The school building was also erected at the expense of the corporation at a 
cost of $1,000. The Richland Company contributes $750 a year to the support of 
this school, and the county has not yet contributed directs towards the sup- 
port of this school, in which there are two teachers employed. 

The company has a very comfortable hall; which it erected at a cost of 
$2,500 for the various amusements that are provided for the help. 

The RIVERSIDE MANUFACTURING COMPANY built the church that 
stands in the village and contributes about one-fourth of the expenses at this 
time. There is a membership of one hundred and twenty-five at this church. 

The RIVERSIDE MANUFACTURING COMPANY built the modern school 
structure outright at a cost of $2,500 and now contributes 25 per cent of the 
operating expenses of the school — the remaining 75 per cent coming from the 
county funds, there are two teachers employed at this school. 

The ROYAL BAG AND YARN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, of Charles- 
ton, is just on the outer edge of the City of Charleston, and the help can easily 
attend the churches in Charleston. There is one church in the mill village, 
which was erected by the corporation. 

The ROYAL BAG AND YARN MANUFACTURING COMPANY has also 
erected a school building at a cost of $4,000. The corporation contributes the 
funds necessary to support a night school. It also has a well patronized read- 
ing room. 

The SAXA-GOTHA MILLS, in Lexington County, has one church. The mill 
corporation contributed to some extent to the building of this church, and as- 
sists in the payment of the minister's salary. 

There is one school building in the village, which cost the company $1,200. 
The public school funds are sufficient for the maintenance of this school. The 
company has, on the second story of the school house, a convenient hall, which 
is used for lodges and the brass band. 

At the SAXON MILL, which is in the suburbs of Spartanburg, there are two 
churches, and a third will probably be erected by the Presbyterians, who have 
an organization but not yet a church. The Baptists and Methodists have churches. 
The corporation contributed the property. The church buildings were erected by 
their employees and their friends, among them being a number of individual 
stockholders in the Saxon Mills. 

' The company contributed to some extent to the maintenance of the churches. 
The churches are well attended. 

The school building was erected at a cost of $6,000 by the corporation, and 
each year the company contributes between $400 and $500 towards the support 
of the schools, which employ two teachers. One of them is paid entirely by the 
company and the other by the school district. The company expects to erect a 
very fine library in the near future. 

At the SPARTAN MILLS, in Spartanburg, there are three churches, and 



171 

the cotton mill corporation contributed $2,500 towards the building of these 
churches, and contributes annually towards the minister's fund. The average 
attendance is figured at seven hundred and fifty. 

There are two city schools within a quarter of a mile of the Spartan Mills, 
and most of the children from the village attend the city graded schools. The 
cotton mill pays $4,410 in taxes for school purposes alone. The company is also 
erecting a new hospital building, which when completed will cost fully $10,000. 
There is considerable general "welfare work" at the Spartan Mills. 

At the SPRINGSTEIN MILLS, in Chester, the church was built by the 
Presbyterians, but it is now a union church, being open to all denominations. 
The Sjringstein Mills paid half of the cost of the building. 

There are two of the city schools in easy reach of the mill village, and all 
the children from the community attend the city schools, which are not more 
than two or three blocks away. The Sunday-school and kindergarten at the 
mill village are successful. 

At the SUMTER COTTON MILLS there is one chapel and Sunday-school 
room, which was erected by the mill corporation. The employees are welcomed 
at the churches in the city. 

The city schools of Sumter are open to the children of the Sumter Cotton 
Mills, and they attend those schools. 



ARTICLE XXV— Details of Welfare Work -Concluded. 

The TAVORA COTTON MILLS, of Yorkville, is in the city limits, and the 
operatives attend the city schools and churches. 

The operatives at H. C. TOWNSEND COTTON MILL use a hall for religious 
worship, and this hall was built entirely by the funds of the mill corporation, 
and whenever there is occasion the company contributes to the support of these 
services. The membership of the churches is about eighty. The company has 
erected a commodious school building at a cost of $2,500. The school is conducted 
by one of the inhabitants of the mill village. There is a kindergarten in the vil- 
lage, which is partially supported by the mill. The company has a comfortable 
room, in which interested parties place .magazines and literature for the conveni- 
ence of the help. 

The TOXAWAY MILLS has one large hall which is used for church purposes, 
and this building was erected entirely by the cotton mill. One-fourth of the 
support of the church workers is from the cotton mill company. The attendance 
at the church is about one hundred. 

The Toxaway Company erected a school building at a cost of $2,000 and con- 
tributes annually $250 towards the running of this school— there being two teachers 
engaged. Seventy-five per cent of the expenses of the Toxaway Mills School, how- 
ever, are contributed by the county out of current taxes. The company has a neat 
library, to which it contributes $100, and, as is the custom with most of the mills, 
contributions are made for the Fourth of July, Christmas and other occasions 
enjoyed by the mill help. 

At the TUCAPAU MILLS, in Spartanburg County, there are three churches, 
with two buildings. The corporation contributes more than half of the total ex- 
penses, and it also donates funds annually towards the support of the ministers. 
The churches are well attended and the seating capacity, which is about nine 
hundred, is generally used. 

The school building, which cost $2,500, was built by the Tucapau Mills, and 
the company contributes annually towards the support of the teachers, and main- 
tains at least one teacher, there being always two or three teachers at the school. 
The county funds are used to the extent of about $3 per pupil in the schools. 

There is a hall and lodge room at present connected with the village, and addi- 
tional buildings are in contemplation, the idea of the corporation being to deal 
liberally with its help. 

At the TYGER COTTON MILLS there are two churches that were built by the 
operatives. The cotton mill contributes annually towards the minister's fund. 

The school, which is on the outskirts pf the village, is supported by the coun- 
ty funds. 

At the UNION-BUFFALO MILLS COMPANY there are two churches, built 
entirely by the mill corporation. Both of these churches are elaborate. The cor- 
poration contributes each year towards the support of the ministers and the attend- 
ance averages over four hundred. 

There is a handsome school building at the Union plant and another at the 
Buffalo plant. These buildings were erected entirely by the corporation. In the 
case of the Union property the county funds are sufficient to support the school- 
costing the county about $1,800. 



173 

At the Buffalo plant the county contributes about $250 for the support of tne 
school, and the mill corporation about $900. 

At Union there is a commodious hall, which cost the company $1,000, and 
which is freely used by the help. In addition to the other uses this hall is used for 
the brass band, which is a popular organization. 

At Buffalo there are two halls and an equal number of parks for the con- 
venience of the help. The hall cost the corporation $2,000. The office building at 
the Buffalo Mill is one of the finest of its kind at the South. It is the intention 
of President Smith to convert this Duilding into a library for the help. 

The VICTOR MANUFACTURING CMPANT, at Greer's, has a handsome 
union church, which is used by the Methodist and Baptist denominations, alternat- 
ing on Sundays. The Wesleyan Methodist denomination has its church, just 
across from the mill village. The corporation built the union church at a cost of 
about $5,000, and it also contributes annually about $400 towards the support of the 
churches, in addition to the heating, light and the sexton. The corporation, in 
addition, contributes each year to the Christmas tree of the Sunday-school. 

The school building was erected at a cost of $6,000 by the* VICTOR MANUFAC- 
TURING COMPANY, and the company contributes $850 annually towards the 
support of this school, while the county gives $500. The school is in the mill 
village and employs three teachers. 

In the matter of "Welfare Work" it may be noted that there is a library, 
reading rooms, game rooms, bowling alley and a large hall, which is equipped 
with a stage, and other additional amusements. Over the library building is a hall, 
which is used by the various secret organizations, such as the Daughters of 
Rebecca, the Odd Fellows and Red Men. The corporation erected these various 
buildings at a cost of between $6,000 and $10,000. In addition to supplying the 
buildings the corporation employs a librarian, who, in addition to attending to the 
library, distributes the mail in the village. The corporation supplies the heat and 
lights of the various buildings. The base ball team at Victor prides itself on its 
record, and at the time of my visit to the mills it had just completed its victory 
of fourteen consecutive games. The kindergarten, which is maintained by the 
Victor Manufacturing Company, has been doing excellent work, and the encour- 
agement has been so markejd that the corporation is now erecting a building, 
which is to be used by the Y. W. C. A. and the kindergarten. The Victor Mills 
has just made provision for the support of the representative of the Y. W. C. A., 
and the kindergarten is maintained at a cost of $1,000 annually, in addition to the 
cost of the schools. 

The VICTORIA COTTON MILLS is located in the city of Rock Hill and is 
near the Arcade Mills. There is a substantial school building located between 
the Victoria and the Arcade Mill, which is supported in part by the "public school 
funds and partly by these two cotton mills. The school is a part of the general 
system of the city of Rock Hill. In addition to the schools in the city there is a 
kindergarten, which is supported by the two cotton mills. The operatives attend 
the churches in the city. 

The WALHALLA COTTON MILLS, in the town of Walhalla, has two churches. 
Methodist and Baptist. The Wesleyan Methodists use a hall. The corporation 
contributes a hall for religious purposes. The membership of each of the 
churches is fifty, and the average attendance is one hundred and fifty. 

The school building was erected at a cost of $1,000 by the mill corporation, and 



174 

the company gives the use of the school building and supplies the heat and 
lights. The county operates the school as a part of the general graded school 
system of the town. 

The WARE SHOALS MANUFACTURING COMPANY is situated on its water 
power, and is not in a town or city, but has built up a considerable community 
of its own. 

The church building is now under construction and will be quite handsome. The 
corporation contributed largely towards the erection of the church. 

The school building, which is for the present temporary, was built by the 
corporation, and the company now contributes one-half of the total expenses, and 
the county the remaining half. It is the purpose of the Ware Shoals Company io 
develop the "Welfare Work" later on, that is, as soon as the more important con- 
struction matters are given attention. 

The WARREN MANUFACTURING COMPANY has two churches, with a 
population of 987, and the cotton mill contributed three-fourths of the total cost to 
each of these buildings. They supply $109 per annum towards the support of the 
churches, and incidentally it may be noted that the Methodist Church has a mem- 
bership of sixty and the Baptist number more than two to one, their number 
being 130. 

In the matter of school facilities the Warren Manufacturing Company owns 
a superb school building, which was erected at a cost of $3,000, and it contributes 
$350 annually out of its treasury for the proper conduct of this school, and the 
county contributes $900, against the $350 contributed by the cotton mill. There 
are three teachers employed at this mill. The company is keenly alive to gen- 
eral "Welfare Work." 

At the VALLEY FALLS MANUFACTURING COMPANY there are two 
churches near the mill village. 

The school, which cost about $1,500, is supported by the county. The mill cor- 
poration gave an acre of land in its village for the school building. 

At the WATTS MILLS, in Laurens, there is one beautiful church, whicli was 
built entirely by the mill corporation. The corporation contributes annually to- 
wards the support of the minister. The church attendance is fully two hun- 
dred. 

The school building was erected at a cost of $6,000 by the company, and the two 
teachers employed are paid entirely by the county. No part of the support of this 
mill school comes from the county. The company is now building an auditorium, 
which will cost fully $6,000, and does not stint in providing what may be for tae 
real pleasure or benefit of its help. 

The WHITNEY MANUFACTURING COMPANY is some distance from the city 
of Spartanburg, and it now has one church. There is under construction a hand- 
some granite church building, which is to be a union church, and the mill corpo- 
ration has contributed $5,000 towards the completion of this building, the remain- 
ing funds being raised by the operatives. The church attendance averages 25 
per cent of the entire population in the mill village. 

Two teachers are employed in the Whitney community, and the county conrib- 
utes $350 annually towards the support of the teachers. 

At the WILLIAMSTON MILLS, in the town of Williamston, there is one 
church, which is used by the three corporations. The building cost the corporation 
$3,000. and the company contributes annually the light, heat and part of the funds. 
The average attendance of the three churches is about two hundred. 



175 

The school facilities at Williamston are exceptionally good. The mill company 
erected the building in the village and it is a part of the general school system 
of Williamston. The school is maintained at the public expense by special levy of 
five mills, and is open for nine months in the year, and, of course, is free to all 
of the children residing in the district, including those at the Williamston Mills. 
For the special convenience of the younger children the trustees maintain a 
branch school, in which they teach the children of all ages from 4 years up. 
This special school is under the direct control of the superintendent of the graded 
school, and is in charge of one of the best teachers in the college faculty. The 
mill's contribution to the maintenance of this school by special levy is $900, which, 
of course, does not include the regular constitutional levy. 

The Williamston Mills has just completed the erection of a magnificent hall, 
equipped with light and heat, which is thrown open to the mill people for all 
purposes and on all occasions— lectures, shows and entertainments. The company 
is giving a series of lectures by such eminent lecturers as Dr Poteat, of Furman; 
Prof Clinkscales and others. It is the purpose of the corporation to establish a 
free circulating library and reading room. All provision will be made for this 
library during the coming winter. The young men of the village engage in a 
great many sports and have recently organized a brass band. 

The WOODSIDE COTTON MILLS, in Greenville, has one church, which was 
erected by the corporation, and the company contributes about one-third annually 
of the expenses of the congregations. 

The school building was erected at a cost of $1,000, the entire expenses being 
borne by the corporation. There are three teachers employed in the Woodside 
School — one of these teachers being paid by the corporation and the second by 
the county. The company, among its other amusements offered- the operatives, has 
an excellent brass band. 

The WOODRUFF COTTON MILL, at Woodruff, has no church in the mill 
village proper, but the people of the town of Woodruff and those in the mill com- 
munity are very closely allied, and the operatives are made welcome to any of rhe 
four churches in the town of Woodruff. The Baptist Church of the mill village 
uses the school building for their services. The Baptist Church has a membership 
of one hundred and fifty-two. The school, which cost $1,000, was built entirely ,at 
the expense of the corporation. There are two teachers, who are paid $600 a year, 
and this is contributed by the county—the mill corporation supplying the light, 
fuel and, incidentally, furnishing the building. It is the intention of the Wood- 
ruff corporation to build a handsome library and amusement hall during the 
present year. There is a flourishing band at Woodruff. The mill has been running 
for only about five years, and in that time the property and homes have been 
gotten in excellent condition, and now that the village proper is considered in high- 
class order, more attention is to be paid to "Welfare Work." 

At the YORK COTTON MILLS there is one union church, which was built 
by the cotton mill corporation. The mill is not called on for much assistance to 
the church, as it is not part of a regular organization. The membership of the 
operatives at the York Mills is quite general in the churches in the city of Y/ork- 
ville. 

The cotton mill built the school building at a cost of about $700. The school in 
the mill village is under the control and direction of the city trustees, as the 
school is in the new district, and the taxes on the mill property for school pur- 
poses amount to about five mills. The mill has a library, in which there are a 



176 

number of books, as well as current magazines and literature. The corporation is 
quite liberal to its operatives in the matter of prizes for entertainments, etc. 

At the EXCELSIOR KNITTING MILLS, Union, there are two churches, 
which are liberally supported by the corporation. 

The school building, which was erected at a cost of $5,000, wa3 paid for entirely 
by the corporation. The two teachers are paid by the public school fund. The 
mills has a well-equipped reading room. 

The WESTMINSTER KNITTING MILLS has one church. The officers of the 
corporation are liberal in their support of the church, and the attendance is quite 
large. The mills being located in the town, the public schools are found most 
convenient, and the children connected with the mills attend the graded schools in 
the town of Westminster. All of the schools are free. 

The BLUE RIDGE HOSIERY MILL, at Landrum, has no individual church, but 
the operatives attend the churches in the town of Landrum. 

The OCONEE KNITTING MILLS is in the town of Walhalla, and the manage- 
ment aims at the employment of high-grade help. Many of the employees have 
their own homes, and are not entirely dependent upon their labors in the mill for 
daily support. 

The grown folks attend the churches in the town and the children the public 
school. 

Information with reference to other of the cotton and knitting mills is not 
available, and consequently cannot now be given. I only wish it had been given 
me. The details I have given may have been tedious, but they will give the 
people of the State a better appreciacion of what the cotton mills have done for 
their help up to now, particularly in the matter of schools and churches. The 
purpose has been to summarize and perhaps this effort has prevented full justice. 

At the EXCELSIOR KNITTING MILLS there is a Methodist Church, which 
has been aided by the company, and a reading room, where religious services are 
conducted by the Baptist denomination, as well as used for social purposes. This 
reading room was given to the community by Mrs Rebecca E. Nicholson, who is 
one of the few who are interested financially in the mill. 



ARTICLE XXVI— Just a Word About Morals. 

The moral tone in the mill communities is good. The people in the villages 
are as honest and as upright as any other similar sized group of our people. 
There are some black sheep and it cannot be helped; there always are. Some 
mill communities are better than others; the temptations may be greater in the 
larger communities. There are no police in the mill villages and the ' order is 
excellent. There is some drinking of liquor and the resulting festivities, but as 
a general thing the operatives are sober and well-behaved. 

Loose morals, unfaithfulness or indecent living are not tolerated. Of course 
there are cases of immorality in a mill village, the same as in any other large 
community, that escape notice, but the temper of the people is to stop all such 
indecent or immoral things. It is quite in order for the superintendent or 
president to receive a request to make certain individuals leave the village, and, 
if upon inquiry or observation the charge be found to be well founded, excom- 
munication follows. Sometimes the operatives themselves take matters in hand 
and do the disciplining. The help at some of the mills has taken a very firm stand 
in some cases, declaring "that they would not work side by side with a bad 
character." The result is inevitable. 

The unfortunate cases in mill villages are more often due to the frightfully 
lax marriage laws in South Carolina. A man with evil designs may go from one 
section to another, marry a young woman in one village, get tired, move on to 
another mill, and, having left no official record in the first community of the 
marriage, leave the wife, and perhaps children, to do the best they can for them- 
selves—feeling free himself TO impose upon another woman. 

These men who take advantage of the lax marriage laws, that require no 
record of marriages, are known as "Luck weavers," and many is the home they 
have invaded and violated. There are occasional cases of women getting the upper 
hand on young men and inducing them to marry, and some women are said to 
have left their husbands, gone to new parts and there remarried; but in the vast 
majority of cases the wrong is against the woman, and they have the burdens and 
the sufferings. 

In one mill village, with a population of 3,700, I made inquiry, and was told 
that there had been two illegitimate births. 

In another mill, with a population of two thousand, I was told that in six 
years "two girls went wrong." There are about six hundred families in this 
community. At another mill of 25,000 spindles the observation was that "two girls 
had to leave the village and one couple was made to marry." 

In several mill villages I was told that they had "grass widows." The hus- 
bands had gone to other communities. 

The point I want to emphasize as strongly as possible is that the morals of 
the mill operatives, as a class, are good, and that it is a slander to insinuate 
that they have loose morals and do not have proper regard for the decencies of 
life. 

Women in mill villages are, sometimes, imposed upon by men largely because 
they have little fear of being caught, because of the inadequate and lax marriage 
laws of the State. That is the whole matter in a nut-shell. 

The desire to live as lawful man and wife is evidenced by the extremely 
early marriages among the operatives. It is a pity that so many of the girls allow 
themselves to undertake the burdens and responsibilities of motherhood as early 
as they do, but such is unfortunately the case. Early marriages are the rule, not 
the exception. 



ARTICLE XXVII-The Consumption of Cotton. 

The cotton mills of South Carolina, according to the United States census report 
for the year ending August 31, 1907, used 668,833 bales of cotton and "took for 
consumption" 709,728 bales of cotton. According to the figures of the Commercial 
and Financial Chronicle, South Carolina mills consumed 695,682 bales. The total 
production of cotton for this State, according to the United States census, 1906-07, 
just issued, was 931,726 bales. 

This represents a consumption by the South Carolina cotton mills, according 
to the census figures, of 72 per cent, or, to be exact, 71.8 per cent of the total 
production of cotton in this State. 

The cotton mills in their reports to me indicate that their direct "takings" of 
cotton for 1907, which is rather their capacity than the actual amount of cotton 
used, were 793,671 bales. The mills in operation in South Carolina to-day can 
actually use that number of bales of cotton. 

It is practically impossible to get an exact statement of the proportion of 
the crop of each county that is locally used, but the South Carolina mills, cer- 
tainly in all the counties with large numbers of mills, use more than the local 
production so far as the numbers of bales is concerned. 

In a statement filed with the South Carolina railroad commission in 1902, it is 
shown that at that time, when the spindles were fewer than they are now, Aiken, 
Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Newberry, Oconee, Pickens, Richland, Spartan- 
burg, Union, ten counties, used in the cotton mills of those counties more than 
400,000 bales of cotton in excess of the production in the same counties. According 
to this report in 1902 all the South Carolina cotton mills used 715,779 bales, (these 
figures do not agree with the census,) and the production at that time Jn the 
counties having cotton mills was 593,221, or an excess in consumption of 280,142 
bales. The counties showing deficiencies in the amount consumed as compared 
with the production in the same counties being 402,700 bales in excess of produc- 
tion for the twenty-seven counties -with mills at that time. In 1902 Spartanburg 
consumed 184,652 bales of cotton, and the production for that county was 29,000 
bales. They are now making finer troods. In other words, Spartanburg had to go 
out of its home county to buy 155,575 bales at that time. Spartanburg now has to 
buy 98,033 bales of cotton in excess of its home production, if it used all the home 
cotton produced. It is a very easy matter to figure out what this means to the 
home producer, and what this demand on the part of the South Carolina mills 
means to the South Carolina cotton planter. 

To give more recent figures I make a comparison of the production, as 
shown by the census figures, and the consumption, as reported by the mills direct, 
that will be intensely interesting: 

Consumption 
Cotton of mills in 

Production, same counties, 

1906. 1906. Mills 

bales. bales. using. 

Cherokee 12,466 16,400 5 

Greenville 30,881 90,598 17 

Newberry 34,793 24,100 3 

Richland 10,549 42,864 6 

Spartanburg 48,328 146,361 22 

Union 15,436 50,000 5 

Anderson 50,791 113,672 16 

203,244 483,995 



179 

These seven counties alone used 483,995 bales of cotton and their home produc- 
tion was 203,244 bales. In other words, the mills in these counties used 280,751 bales 
more than the same counties produced- The cotton mills buy where they can get 
the cotton they want— that is simple business. 

A great deal of "Western" cotton s brought into this State, because the 
staple is longer and works "smoother." If the local cotton can be used as well, it 
is, of course, given the preference, as the use of home cotton saves freight and 
other expenses. Last year's staple was not near so good as that of the South 
Carolina crop for 1907. 

The South Carolina cotton mills all use as much home raised cotton as possi- 
ble. They prefer to use home cotton on account of the saving in freight and 
other charges. 

Unfortunately the South Carolina, staple is not suited for the finer grades of 
fabrics, on which so many of the mills are now engaged. 

The output of the majority of the South Carolina mills consists of coarse 
goods, and they use all the Carolina cotton that they can, but where they require 
cotton of longer staple than is generally raised on the uplands of this State they 
buy it in Alabama or Mississippi; and, of course, it is a patent business proposi- 
tion that they do not do this on account of any preference of buying away from 
home and paying freight charges, out simply because they cannot get the staple 
here that is necessary. 

The mills in South Carolina use almost entirely what is known as upland cot- 
ton. Egyptian cotton is used at a number of the yarn mills. Sea island cotton 
is too expensive and fine to be used here It goes into the manufacture of fine 
laces, silks, etc. There is a ready and constant demand by South Carolina cotton 
mills for all the "long staple" upland cotton raised here. 

South Carolina is now planting on a limited scale some long staple cotton, 
such as the "Florodoro," "Allen," "Sunflower," "Debt Lifter," but there is not 
enough of it grown here. From what I can understand, wherever this long staple 
cotton is planted in the uplands and wherever it is intelligently handled and well 
fertilized, there is good money in it, and it would be a profitable thing to the 
farmers of the State, and very much desired by the cotton mills, if. a great deal 
of this long staple cotton were raised in this State. 

Obviously the cotton mills buy what cotton they need in the cheapest market, 
and whenever they can get Carolina raised cotton of such staple as they need they 
gladly buy it. The cotton mills generally have their own buyers, who enter into 
active competition with those representing outside cotton dealers, and with the 
demand for cotton always active, the farmer gets the maximum price for his pro- 
duct. The fact of the matter is that cotton manufacturers would rather see a 
high-priced cotton market than for cotton to be selling for a "song," because the 
firmer the price of cotton the better and the more constant the demand for the 
manufactured product. 

I have gotten up at considerable pains a complete statement of the consump- 
tion of cotton by the cotton mills This statement gives the consumption of each 
mill in South Carolina, as reported, together with the value of the product, and 
ought to prove exceedingly valuable and interesting. It follows: 



180 

v \ v Number of bales Value of 

cotton consumed Manufac- 
by S. C. Mills, tured product, 

1907. 1907. 

Abbeville Cotton Mills 10,000 $ 768,000 00 

Aetna Cotton Mills 4,000 400,000 00 

Aiken Manufacturing Company 4,000 Not given. 

American Spinning Company 12,000 980,465 32 

Anderson Cotton Mills 10,238 894,817 00 

Apalache Mills 2,700 340,000 00 

Aragon Cotton Mills 2,800 300,000 00 

Arcade Mills 2,500 200,000 00 

Arcadia Mills 2,000 225,000 00 

Arkwright Mills 7,500 500,000 00 

Bamberg Cotton Mills 2,000 175,000 00 

Banna Manufacturing Company 1,200 100,000 00 

Batesville Mill 750 75,000 00 

Beaumont Manufacturing Company 8,000 ' 450,000 00 

Belton Mills 12,000 1,500,000 00 

Brandon Mills 6,500 652,733 66 

Brogan Mills 7,000 1,000,000 00 

Calhoun Falls Manufacturing Co 6,000 250,000 00 

Calumet Manufacturing Company 938 120,000 00 

Camperdown Mills 3,000 300,000 00 

Capital City Mills .. .. 844 200,000 00 

Hamilton Carhart Cotton Mills 2,000 300,000 00 

Carolina Mills 1,500 134,81182 

Cherokee Falls Manufacturing Co 3,600 300,000 00 

Cheswell Cotton Mills 4,911 375,88100 

Chiquola Manufacturing Company 5,500 600,000 00 

Clifton Manufacturing Company 22,000 1,680,000 00 

Clinton Cotton Mills 3,000 500,000 00 

Clover Cotton Mills 2,000 500,000 00 

Columbia Mills Company , 18,000 1,400,000 00 

*Conneross Tarn Mill 2,000 200,000 00 

D. E. Converse Company 5,500 600,000 00 

Courtenay Manufacturing Company 4,000 500,000 00 

Cowpens Manufacturing Company 2,750 240,000 00 

Cox Manufacturing Company 3,000 400,000 00 

♦Darlington Manufacturing Co 6,000 600,000 00 

Dillon Cotton Mills 2,700 200,000 00 

Drayton Mills 2,400 500,000 00 

Easley Cotton Mills 8,500 840,000 00 

Edgefield Manufacturing Company 2,000 167,90$ 00 

Enoree Manufacturing Company 10,500 850,000 00 * 

Eureka Cotton Mills 4,300 230,000 00 

Fairfield Cotton Mills 3,445 396,876 00 

Finger ville Manufacturing Company 2,400 150,000 00 

Fork Shoals Manufacturing Co 980 100,000 00 

Fountain Inn Manufacturing Co .. 2,500 350,000 00 

Franklin Mills 2,650 200,000 00 



181 

Number of bales Value of 
Cotton Consumed Manufactured 

by S. C. Mills. Product. 

1907. 1907. 

Gaffney Manufacturing Company 9,600 900,000 00 

Glenn-Lowry Manufacturing Co 5,000 500,000 CO 

Glenwood Cotton Mills 3,300 375,000 00 

Globe Manufacturing Company 1,800 150,000 00 

Gluck Mills 1,674 350,000 00 

Granby Cotton Mills 6,000 823,000 00 

Graniteville Manufacturing Co 24,000 1,800,000 00 

(Includes Vaucluse) 

Greenwood Cotton Mills 5,000 400,000 00 

Grendel Cotton Mills 6,500 750,000 00 

Hamer Cotton Mills 1,500 161,315 24 

Hartsville Cotton Mill 3,600 475,000 00 

Hermitage Cotton Mills 1,800 225,000 00 

Highland Park Manufacturing Co 2,250 350,000 00 

Huguenot Mills 1,800 240,000 00 

Inman Mills .. 2,732 300,214 46 

Irene Mills 800 200,000 00 

Issaquena Mills 1,650 400,000 00 

Jackson Mills 7,000 486,000 00 

Jones ville Manufacturing Company 3,000 500,000 00 

Jordan Manufacturing Company 100,000 00 

Lancaster Cotton Mills 16,000 1,800,000 00 

Langley Manufacturing Company 20,000 1,400,000 00 

Laurens Cotton Mills 4,800 604,573 00 

Lexington Manufacturing Company 3,120 312,000 00 

Liberty Cotton Mills 1,200 160,000 00 

Limestone Mills 3,000 312,500 00 

Lockhart Mills 11,000 900,000 00 

Lydia Cotton Mills 2,500 400,000 00 

Manchester Cotton Mills 3,000 250,000 00 

Manetta Cotton Mills 12,000 1,000,000 00 

Marion Manufacturing Company 1,800 160,000 00 

Marlboro Cotton Mill3 16,000 1,500,000 00 

Mary Louise Mills 2,000 150,000 00 

Maple Cotton Mills 4,000 400,000 00 

McGee Manufacturing Company (imported) . . 500 400,000 00 

Mill, Fort Mill Company 5,000 675,000 00 

Fort Mill Manufacturing Company 2,000 300,000 00 

Mills Manufacturing Company 3,898 395,000 00 

Mollohon Manufacturing Company 3,600 500,000 00 

Monaghan Mills 8,000 700,000 00 

Monarch Cotton Mills 6,000 800,000 00 

Middleburg Mills 2,875 275,000 00 

Neely Manufacturing Company 3,000 230,000 00 

Newberry Cotton Mills 15,500 1,350,000 00 

Ninety-Six Cotton Mill 2,450 300,000 00 

Norris Cotton Mills Company .. .., 2,500 300,000 00 

Octoraro Mill Company .. 800 80,000 00 



182 

Number of bales 
Cotton Consumed 
by S. C. Mills. 
1907. 

Olympia Cotton Mills .. 12,000 

Orange Cotton Mills 3,600 

Orangeburg Manufacturing Co .. 3,000 

Orr Cotton Mills 11,000 

Pacolet Manufacturing Company 24,000 

Palmetto Cotton Mills 900 

Pelham Mills 4,359 

Pelzer Manufacturing Company 36,000 

Pendleton Cotton Mills 480 

Pendleton Manufacturing Company 1,800 

Pickens Cotton Mills 4,700 

Piedmont Manufacturing Company 24,000 

Pine Creek Manufacturing Co 3,000 

Poe Manufacturing Company 7,500 

Reedy River Manufacturing Co 4,161 

Richland Cotton Mills 3,120 

Riverside Manufacturing Company 4,000 

Royal Bag and Yarn Manufacturing Co 7,000 

Saxa-Gotha Mills 1,500 

Saxon Mills 3,500 

Seminole Manufacturing Co (being finished) 

Seneca Cotton Mills 2,500 

Southern Aseptic Laboratory, Columbia 2,000 

Spartan Mills 12,900 

Springstien Mills 3,000 

Sumter Cotton Mills 1,420 

Tavora Cotton Mill 1,060 

Townsend Cotton Mill 2,480 

Toxaway Mills 2,400 

Tucapau Mills 8,000 

Tyger Cotton Mills 2,000 

Union-Buffalo Mills Company 26,000 

Valley Falls Manufacturing Co 780 

Vardry Cotton Mills 1,000 

Victoria Cotton Mills 1,650 

Victor Manufacturing Company 6,600 

Walhalla Cotton Mills 3,600 

Walterboro Cotton Mills 900 

Warren Manufacturing Company 4,500 

"Ware Shoals Manufacturing Co 12,000 

Watts Mills 2,400 

Whitaker Cotton Mills 1,200 

Whitney Manufacturing Company.. 9,600 

Williamston Mills 4,000 

Woodruff Cotton Mills 4,140 

Woodside Cotton Mills 6.000 

Wylie Mills 2,700 

York Cotton Mills 2,000 

Totals 791,156 

*Buy yarns. 



Value of 

Manufactured 

Product. 
1907. 

1,240,000 00 
250,000 00 
360,000 00 

1,000,000 00 

1,300,000 00 
130,000 00 
329,850 42 

2,500,000 00 

72,000 00 

147,000 00 

250,000 00 

1,800,000 00 
300,000 00 
620,000 00 
240,000 00 
590,000 00 
375,009 00 

1,009,739 00 
150,000 00 
360,000 00 

250,000 00 
150,000 00 

1,663,800 00 
450,000 00 
105,500 00 
100,000 00 
230,000 00 
265,000 00 
700.000 00 
150,000 00 

2,635,000 00 
75,000 00 
110,000 00 
160,000 00 
867.781 00 
400,000 00 
76,000 00 
500,000 00 

1,200.000 00 
500,000 00 
90,000 00 
737,737 00 
400,000 00 
452,840 88 
600,000 00 
275.000 00 
240,000 00 



$73,628,193 80 



183 



KNITTING MILLS. 



Name. 

Excelsior Knitting Mills ; 1 

Oconee Knitting Mills 

The Westminster Knitting Mills 

Blue Ridge Hosiery Mill 

Ailing & Green Knitting Mills 

Manning Knitting Mills 

Ashley Manufacturing Company 

Walhalla Knitting Mills 

C. H. Tilton & Sons 

Cresent Manufacturing Company 

Bowling Green Knitting Mills 



Bales 
consumed. 



110 



Totals for knitting mills only 1,910 

♦Buy yarns. 



Value manufac- 
tured product 
$300,000 00 
50,000 00 
35,000 00 
100,000 00 
21,600 00 
40,000 00 
50,000 00 
45,000 00 
122,302 00 
120,000 00 
40,000,00 



$923,902 00 



Grand totals , 793,471 



$74,552,095 80 



ARTICLE XXVIII-The Mills as Town Builders. 

The local demand for cotton by the mills in this State has had an admitted 
effect on the price of the product, and the more cotton used in this State the more 
the demand for the raw material. The greater the number of spindles in South 
Carolina the greater the demand for cotton; and the agricultural interest should 
be in thorough sympathy with the cotton mills in their desire to secure labor 
with which to run their plants. 

Aside from the purchase of cotton for the mills the location of these properties 
has had a most marked effect upon the general industrial and land conditions. 
It is entirely safe to say that real estate in the immediate vicinity of cotton mills 
has enhanced at least double the original values. Of course the general pros- 
perity of the State, the ever increasing industrial movement and the increased 
prices of cotton have had their influence, but it is admitted on all sides that 
nothing has done more towards bringing about the increased values of land than 
the location of cotton mills. 

The people of Columbia, Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Chester, Rock Hill 
and other communities, where there are numbers of cotton mills, all testify to 
this fact. Any intelligent person in these cities will readily give credit to the 
builders of cotton mills as the real builders, the beginners of the industrial pros- 
perity of these thriving communities. 

When I was at Honea Path I talked to several men, among them Mr Shirley, 
who told me that the establishment of a cotton mill in any community in- 
creased land values three or four times for several miles around, and that land 
within a radius of ten miles of any of the cotton mills in the Piedmont section had 
fully doubled in value since the advent of the cotton mills. This is thought to be 
a conservative estimate in all mill sections of this State. 

The increase in land values has been brought about, of course, by the oppor- 
tunities for trade into the new markets that the cotton mills bring. Chickens and 
eggs are worth twice as much as they were before the smoke began to puff out 
of the chimneys of the cotton mill; and so it has been with all provisions. 
Cotton, of course, is closer to a good cash market. 

The thousands of operatives in the various cotton mill communities have given 
increased business to the stores, and it could not be different, because the thou- 
sands of dollars paid out each two weeks in any one of the cotton mill communi- 
ties goes for the purchase of food, clothing and other legitimate expenses. All of 
this obviously tends to the upbuilding of the commercial life of the various 
towns. In Anderson, for instance, the pay roll of the various mills in that imme- 
diate community aggregates $861,900. All this money gets into circulation there- 
about in one way or another. 

In a recent article Mr Arthur W. Page, in the World's Work, gives a pen 
picture of the new conditions that have been brought about by the cotton mills 
in Spartanburg. He writes as follows: 

"What they have done for Spartanburg is more remarkable. There are about 
60,000 bales of cotton grown hi Spartanburg County. This used to be bought for 
mills in England and other parts of the United States and shipped away. With 
cotton selling at ten cents a pound, the country would get $2,500,000 for Its 50.000 
bales. Now the mills buy this cotton and manufacture it into cloth, which is 
worth on an average about twenty-five ..ents a pound. When shipped away from 



185 

Spartanburg in this form the county gets $7,250,000 for that same 50,000 bales of 
cotton. But the mills manufacture about 200,000 bales of cotton grown outside the 
county, and that 200,000 bales increases in value about $19,000,000 from the time it 
comes into the county until it is shipped away again. The mills have made a 
direct increase in the county's yearly income of about $23,750,000. The farmers 
have been benefited by this more than any other class. They used to sell cotton 
to the local merchants under the ruinous credit system. Now a bale of cotton is 
seldom seen in Spartanburg. There is a mill on every road leading into town and 
the mills pay cash. Instead of paying interest to a merchant for credit, the farmer 
puts his money into the bank and draws interest himself. And he gets more for 
his cotton, also, since the mills pay a little higher than the market price for local 
cotton, because they do not have to pay freight on it. Before the mills came the 
farmers had practically no market for anything but cotton. The mill villages 
and the town now need more food than the local farmers can supply; so they can 
sell their food products up to prices elsewhere, plus the freight to Spartanburg. 
I heard a housekeeper complaining that 'frying-size' chickens used to cost only 
ten or twelve cents apiece, while now they cost that much a pound. The sheriff 
used to be busy foreclosing mortgages. Now the farmers have about $8,000,000 de- 
posited in the banks in Spartanburg, and there are four farmers' banks in other 
parts of the county. The mills are not wholly responsible for this, but they, 
more than any other contributing cause, helped the farmer from poverty to pro- 
gress; from a condition in which the banks had to 'run' the farmers, to the con- 
dition where the farmers 'run' the banks. 

"The mills mean $23,750,000 a year to the county in money. They mean much 
more than this in human progress. There are 20,000 people in the mill village, 
most of whom have been brought out of the loneliness of farm life or isolation 
Of the mountains into touch with progress." 

Mr John T. Rhett, secretary of the Spartanburg Chamber of Commerce, in re- 
sponse to my inquiry as to what the cotton mills had done for Spartanburg in the 
way of increasing values, writes me thus: 

"There are in Spartanburg County Unrty-seven mills of various sizes. These 
mills annually consume 250,000 bales of cotton, five times the amount raised in the 
county. It is estimated that these mills have increased the annual income of the 
county $23,000,000. The mills also turn loose in Spartanburg considerably over a 
half million dollars in dividends annually. 

"The addition of such an industry as cotton manufacturing could not but 
increase the value of real estate in Spartanburg County very greatly for several 
reasons. 

"1. The cotton mills have been located in all parts of the county. There have 
arisen small towns wherever the mills have been erected, and the property, which 
was formerly on the market as farming lands, is now sold on the basis of city 
lots, which has elevated values very much. The mills located in, the vicinity of 
the larger towns have developed the outskirts of these towns; so that the prop- 
erty has become very valuable, while before the coming of the mills the property 
was not rated as city property. 

"2. The enormous increase in the annual income of the county of Spartanburg, 
caused by the coming of the mills, has caused a general prosperity, and desir- 
able property was soon purchased by those participating in the benefits. With the 
general prosperity came the desire to own homes and real estate. With ready 
purchasers always in sight there was a constant demand for real estate, and with 
the demand came the increase in value. 



186 

"3. The dividends annually paid out in Spartanburg go to swell the bank 
accounts of the people in the county, and this money is soon reinvested. Real 
estate is considered an excellent investment in Spartanburg, and many of the 
dollars paid out by the mills go to purchase real estate. There is always a de- 
mand for good real estate, and there is a large amount of property changing 
hands in this county each year. 

"There have been many reasons for the advance in the real estate in Spartan- 
burg County, but there is but little doubt that the cotton mill industry has been 
the most important factor in this advance. New mills are being projected from 
time to time in this county and the old mills are constantly enlarging. There 
is every reason to presume that there will be as great an advance in the real 

estate of Spartanburg in the next few years as there has been in the past." 
-. 
Mr Ed H. DeCamp, in writing me of the improved conditions at Gaffney, and 

what the cotton mills have done for that community, says: 

"It is an extremely difficult matter to say with any degree of accuracy what 
effect the cotton mill industry has had upon the increased values of real estate 
in Gaffney. Certain it is, however, that it has contributed no little to the popu- 
lation and the business of the place, and necessarily it has exerted its influence 
upon the real estate. Simply ti illustrate the rapid increase in Gaffney dirt 
values, we will say that fifteen years ago a vacant lot on Limestone street, which 
is now the principal business thoroughfare of the town, sold for less than $500. 
A year later, after the establishment of the first mill, which was a small, $900,000, 
corporation, this same piece of land sold for $750; a year later it sold for $1,000, 
and a year after that for $1,500. To-day the owners would not consider a propo- 
sition of $15,000 for the lot, although the improvements now on it could easily be 
made for $5,000. Gaffney has four mills, viz: The Gaffney Manufacturing Com- 
pany, the Limestone Mills, the Irene Mills and the Globe Manufacturing Com- 
pany. The aggregate pay rolls of these amount to $22,000 per month, or nearly 
$1,000 for each work day in the month. The majority of the operatives live in 
houses belonging to the company for which they work, although many of them 
own homes of their own. There isn't a bank in the town that does not boast of 
numbering among its depositors many of the operatives. All the mills close down 
about noon on Saturday, and so congested are the sidewalks from that time until 
dark that often the pedestrian is forced to elbow his way through the throng. 
It is a pleasing sight to watch them flitting about to and fro in the warm 
weather; the girls dressed in neat white organdie or light percale and calico; 
some with a bright piece of ribbon, tied here and there about their person, so as 
to lend color to the surroundings, and the boys and men in clean white shirts, 
with cuffs and collars, and neat ties, and store bought clothes" and patent leather 
shoes. Personally the average mill operative that dwells in the Piedmont region 
is attractive. True, many of them are without education, except the most elemen- 
tary sort, but they are, as a rule, honest and upright, and are doing what they 
can to add to the wealth and happiness of the world. In morals they will compare 
favorably with the balance of the world. All in all, we would say that the aotton 
mills have done a great deal towards building the town of Gaffney, and so well 
pleased are the people with cotton mills that they continue to add . to the old 
plants and build new ones, as evidenced by the fact that the Irene Mill has re- 
cently doubled its capacity; the Gaffney Manufacturing Company is now engaged 
in installing an additional 20,000 spindles, which will give them 91,648, all told, 
and the erection of the Merrimac Mills, which will have 10,240 spindles. This 
last named mill will be run by electrical power, supplied from Broad River." 



187 

In writing of the conditions in Greenville and what the cotton mills have done 
for that wide-awake city, Mr AJester G. Furman has this to say in a personal and 
interesting way: 

"It is, of course, not proper to credit the immense increase in value of real 
estate in Greenville altogether to our industrial plants, but in my opinion at least 
60 per cent of this increase in value can be traced entirely to this source. To 
illustrate this increase in values I will give you the following data: 

"Immediately adjacent to the Brandon Mill in 1901 a tract of land was bought 
adjoining the village for $150 per acre. One-third of this property was divided into 
one-quarter-acre lots . and sold out chiefly to operatives in the cotton mills at 
the rate of $400 per acre in 1905. The balance of this property was put on the 
market and sold at the rate of $1,600 per acre; and since that time various pur- 
chasers of the small lots have disposed of them on a basis of from $2,200 to $2,500 
per acre. Adjoining this tract, five years ago, thirty acres was sold for $6,000, and 
during the present spring this was disposed of for $15,000, and is now being sub- 
divided into city lots, and will bring an average of $2,000 per acre. 

"Over between the Woodside and Monaghan Mills there was a tract of land, 
which was bought for $100 per acre and divided up into two hundred building 
lots, and all sold out on the basis of $800 per acre. 

"Beyond the Monaghan Mills, on what is known as the 'Finlay place,' the 
Riverside Land Company has opened up a large addition. It purchased about 
three hundred acres around $100 per acre, and has disposed of about one hundred 
acres of it at prices ranging from $600 to $1,000 per acre. 

"Between the Poe Mills and the city of Greenville I bought in 1905 for the 
Mountain City Land and Improvement Company a tract of land, consisting of nine 
acres, for $300 per acre. This land was divided into thirty lots, and at this time 
there are twenty-eight houses standing on the property. The property realized the 
purchasers about $6,500. Referring again to these sales, I wish to say that they 
were generally made on the instalment plan of payment, and that in the writer's 
experience he has not had a single purchaser to not carry out his contract. There 
have been changes in ownership prior to the final settlement being made on a 
lot, but invariably this was due to the first purchaser receiving a profit on bis 
contract by selling same. 

"While the cotton mills all own houses immediately surrounding their fac- 
tories, the managements encourage the operatives in purchasing homes imme- 
diately adjoining the mill property, it having the effect of making the employees 
more contented, and less inclined to move from one village to another. I cannot 
give the exact figures, but I should think that the mill operatives in this section 
have within the last eighteen months bought and paid for 800 lots, ranging in price 
from $150 to $375 per lot." 

But these are simply types. Such reports would come from every other com- 
munity in the State where there are cotton mills. So, why repeat? The cotton 
mills that W. B. S. Whaley built in Columbia started the real and substantial 
boom in the Capital City, and so it has been in every part of the State. The 
cotton mills have brought prosperity without hurt. 

When it is considered that the cotton mills in this State pay out annually in 
the neighborhood of $12,000,000 for labor alone, it must be appreciated that this 
money has to go into circulation, and it is certain as a simple economic proposi- 
tion to have a considerable tendency towards the development of the communities 
where this money is expended. Almost every day one sees in the newspapers an 



188 

account of the organization of some cotton mill, and generally these enterprises 
are being started where their good effects have been appreciated. These cotton 
mills in South Carolina will continue to be built as long as the labor supply is 
adequate, and that is the only fundamental difficulty in this State, provided prac- 
tical cotton mill men are put in charge of these properties, and they are not inter- 
fered with by hostile legislation. 

I have gotten up a statement of the amount of the annual pay roll by each 
cotton mill. This shows how great a volume of money is distributed in the mill 
communities for labor. It is well worth study: 

Amount of Annual 

Pay Roll 

1906-1907. 

Abbeville Cotton Mills $ 85,000 00 

Aetna Cotton Mills 80,000 00 

Aiken Manufacturing Co 104,000 00 

American Spinning Company 146,869 60 

Anderson Cotton Mills 218,342 95 

Apalache Mills 70,000 00 

Aragon Cotton Mills 40,000 00 

Arcade Cotton Mills 27,500 00 

Arcadia Mills 35,000 00 

Arkwright Mills 66,596 34 

Bamberg Cotton Mills 40,000 00 

Banna Manufacturing Co 18,000 00 

Batesville Mill 7,662 96 

Beaumont Manufacturing Co 80,000 00 

Belton Mills 175,000 00 

Brandon Mills 112,209 05 

Brogan Mills „ 190,000 00 

Calumet Manufacturing Co.. 30,000 00 

Camperdown Mills 90,000 00 

Capital City Mills 36,000 00 

Hamilton Carhart Cotton Mills 35,000 00 

Carolina Mills 25,773 15 

Cherokee Falls Manufacturing Co 80,000 00 

Cheswell Cotton Mills .60,000 00 

Chiquola Manufacturing Co i^o,000 00 

Clifton Manufacturing Co 250,000 00 

*Clinton Cotton Mills 

Clover Cotton Mills 70,000 00 

Columbia Mills Company 290,000 00 

♦Conneross Yarn Mill 

D. E. Converse Company 98,838 00 

Courtenay Manufacturing Co 75,000 00 

♦Cowpens Manufacturing Co 

Cox Manufacturing Company 63,000 00 

Darlington Manufacturing Co 125,000 00 

♦Dillon Cotton Mills 

Drayton Mills 60,000 00 

Easley Cotton Mills 131,000 00 



189 

Amount of Annual 
Pay Roll. 

Edgefield Manufacturing Co 36,000 00 

Enoree Manufacturing Co 124,000 00 

Eureka Cotton Mills ... .. 42,000 00 

Fairfield Cotton Mills 70,000 00 

♦Fingerville Manufacturing Co 

Fork Shoals Manufacturing Co 10,000 00 

Fountain Inn Manufacturing Co 50,000 00 

Franklin Mills 40,000 00 

Gaffney Manufacturing Co 145,000 00 

Glenn-Lowry Manufacturing^ 75,000 00 

Glenwood Cotton Mills 61,807 38 

Globe Manufacturing Co 15,000 00 

Gluck Mills 88,500 00 

Granby Cotton Mills 135,000 00 

Graniteville Manufacturing Co 230,000 00 

(Includes Vaucluse) . 

Greenwood Cotton Mills 68,736 00 

Grendel Cotton Mills 99,143 30 

Hamer Cotton Mills ' 24,224 75 

Hartsville Cotton Mills 70,000 00 

Hermitage Cotton Mills 55,000 00 

Highland Park Manufacturing Co 75,000 00 

Huguenot Mills 50,000 00 

Inman Mills 49,949 40 

♦Irene Mills 

Issaquena Mills 36,000 00 

Jackson Mills 73,000 00 

Jonesville Manufacturing Co, 100,000 00 

♦Jordan Manufacturing Co 

Lancaster Cotton Mills 221,000 00 

Langley Manufacturing Co 214,000 00 

Laurens Cotton Mills 122,500 00 

Lexington Manufacturing Co 48,500 00 

Liberty Cotton Mills 36,000 00 

Limestone Mills 60,000 00 

Lockhart Mills 160,000 00 

Lydia Cotton Mills 75,000 00 

Manchester Cotton Mills 60,000 00 

Manetta Cotton Mills 150,000 00 

Marion Manufacturing Co 24,800 00 

Marlboro Cotton Mills 180,000 00 

Mary-Louise Cotton Mills 13,000 00 

♦Maple Cotton Mills 

McGee Manufacturing Co 35,000 00 

Mill, Fort Mill Company, 

(Fort Mill Manufacturing Co) 135,000 00 

Mills Manufacturing Co .. 80,639 90 

Mollohon Manufacturing Co 100,000 00 

Monaghan Mills 170,000 00 



190 

Amount of Annual 
Pay Roll. 
♦Monarch Cotton Mills 

*Middleburg Mills 

Neely Manufacturing Co 20,000 00 

Newberry Cotton Mills 145,000 00 

Ninety-Six Cotton Mill .. 45,254 70 

Norris Cotton Mills Co 52,000 00 

Octoraro Mill Company 10,000 00 

Olympia Cotton Mills 246,000 00 

Orange Cotton Mills 50,000 00 

Orangeburg Manufacturing Co 36,000 00 

Orr Cotton Mills 175,000 00 

Pacolet Manufacturing Co 187,712 16 

Palmetto Cotton Mills 28,000 00 

Pelham Mills 50,000 00 

Pelzer Manufacturing Co 425,000 00 

*Pendleton Cotton Mills .. 

Pendleton Manufacturing Co 113,500 00 

*Pickens Cotton Mills 

Piedmont Manufacturing Co 240,000 00 

Pine Creek Manufacturing Co 55,000 00 

Poe Manufacturing Co 180,000 00 

Reedy River Manufa cturing Co 54,584 00 

Richland Cotton Mills 84,000 00 

Riverside Manufacturing Co 50,000 00 

Royal Bag and Yarn Mfg Co 95,500 00 

Saxa-Gotha Mills 30,000 00 

Saxon Mills 65,000 00 

Seminole Mfg Co, (being finished) 

Seneca Cotton Mills 50,000 00 

Spartan Mills 231,000 00 

Springstien Mills 100,000 00 

Sumter Cotton Mills 17,000 00 

Tavora Cotton Mills 13,250 00 

Townsend Cotton Mill 23,400 00 

Toxa way Mills 42,000 00 

Tucapau Mills 120,000 00 

Tyger Cotton Mills 35,000 00 

Union-Buffalo Mills Co 464,000 00 

Valley Falls Mfg Co 26,000 00 

Vardry Cotton Mills 14,000 00 

Victoria Cotton Mills 56,500 00 

Victor Manufacturing Co 166,755 47 

Walhalla Cotton Mills 50,000 00 

*Walterboro Cotton Mills 

Warren Manufacturing Co 91,000 00 

Ware Shoals Mfg Co 120,000 00 

Watts Mills , 90,000 00 

*Whitaker Cotton Mills 

Whitney Manufacturing Co 79,000 00 



191 

Amount of Annual 
Pay Roll. 

F i Williamston Mills 80,000 00 

Woodruff Cotton Mills 71,353 66 

Woodside Cotton Mills 120,000 00 

*Wylie Mills 

York Cotton Mills 36,000 00 

Knitting Mills 186,72100 

Grand total $11,495,430 77 

; , PAT KOLL. KNITTING MILLS. 

Excelsior Knitting Mills, Union $60,000 

Blue Ridge Hosiery Mills, Landrum 16,800 

Cconee Knitting Mill 7,500 

Corona Mills, Anderson 10,000 

Ashley Manufacturing Co, Newberry 30,000 

G. H. Tilton & Sons, Columbia 10,000 

Westminster Knitting Mill 10,000 

Crescent Manufacturing Co, Spartanburg 42,420 

Pay rolls, knitting mills $186,721 

Grand total, pay rolls cloth and knitting 
mills $11,495,430 77 

The mills that kindly supplied the data as to the pay rolls show an aggregate 
of $11,495,430 77. I never like to guess, but if the data were available from the other 
mills (Clinton, Conneross, Cowpens, .Dillon, Fingerville, Irene, Jordan, Maple, 
Monarch, Middleburg, Pendleton, Pickens, Whittaker and Wylie) the total would 
easily run over the $12,000,000 mark. This means a million dollars a month in 
wages. No other industry in this State, of course, can compare in the amount of 
wages paid. It is a simple ABC proposition to figure what this means to each 
of the communities where the money is spent. 



ARTICLE XXIX- What Carolina Mills Make. 

The people of ]the State do not realize how great a variety of goods is made 
of cotton, and into what lines of manufacturing the South Carolina mills have 
gone. It was not very many years ago that practically all of the mills in ihis 
State were engaged in the manufacture of heavy goods or what are known as 
the coarser grades of cotton fabrics. To-day they are making all qualities of 
cotton fabrics. They have not yet engaged in making odds and ends on account 
of the difficulty in selling, and because the standard shirtings and sheetings, 
and plain print goods find a readier market and the cash returns come in quicker. 
The newer mills are rather inclined to engage in the manufacture of what are 
known as convertibles, out of which ladies' shirt waists or gentlemen's shirts are 
made, and some of the most successful of the newer mills, such as Saxon and 
Drayton Mills, are engaged in the manufacture of lawns that weigh as little as 
twelve yards to the pound. The weight of the goods to the yard is indicative 
of the coarseness or fineness of the fabric. In other words, a print cloth that 
weighs 7.30 yards to the pound is of lighter weight and does not consume as much 
cotton as a cloth weighing 4.75 yards to the pound. The South Carolina cotton 
mills have established an international reputation on what are known as export 
goods, and the products of the South Carolina mills— Pacolet, Piedmont, Peizer, 
Clifton, Whitney, Union-Buffalo and others— are at the head of the list for Chinese 
and Manchurian trade. Any report of the Asiatic trade that is picked up will show 
that the best prices obtain for South Carolina brands. These goods are what are 
known as 2.85; in other words, they weigh 2.85 yards to the pound. At the time 
of writing there was no demand for export goods, because of the fact that the 
Chinese markets have been overstocked for some time. The varied output of 
the cotton mills of South Carolina is a matter of intense interest, and the manu- 
facturers in this State would do well, in my opinion, to enter largely the work 
of publicity and exploit their cotton products. At this time practically all of the 
goods made in this State are sold through commission houses, and a few of the 
mills have their own brands, but make what are known as standard goods for 
printing or converting. The time will come in this State when the manufacturers 
will have sufficient capital and take advantage of brands they will establish, and 
thereby get a bonus on the price of plain goods on account of the superior quality 
of the goods made and the desire for them in the markets. The time will come 
when the mills will get more closely in touch with the direct buyer. There is no 
•question about the fact that the Southern goods are as well made, and the 
reports of special commissions indicate that in foreign markets they are in special 
demand, because of the superior quality of the cotton and the general character 
of the goods. It will be interesting to know that the United States census in its 
report for the year 1905 shows that the South Carolina cotton mills during that 
year manufactured 862,000,000 square yards of cloth goods. This seems to be 
almost beyond the conception of most of us. The following is a summary of the 
various classes of goods made by the mills in this State, together with the number 
of square yards made by South Carolina cotton mills: 



193 

. SQUARE YARDS. 

81,000,000— Plain cloths, coarser than 28 yarns. 
332,000,000— Plain cloths, finer than 28 yarns. 
248,000,000— Sheetings and shirtings. 
45,000,000— Drills and sateens. 
17,000,000— Fancy. 
26,000,000— Ginghams. 

5,000,000— Duck. 
88,000,000— Drills. 

6,000,000— Drills, denins. 
14,000,000— Bags and bagging. 



862,000,000 square yardms. 

There are a number of mills in this State, such as Camperdown, Vardry, Bates- 
ville, Pelham, Fountain Inn, Fork Shoals, Marlboro Cotton Mills, Maple, Dillon, 
Hamer, Octoraro and others, that devote themselves exclusively to the manufac- 
ture of yarns that just at this time are not in great demand at good prices. In 
the city of Anderson, for instance, just to show the variety of goods that are 
made, the Anderson Mills make four-yard sheeting and wide print cloths. The 
Brogan Mills devotes itself to outing flannel, out of which pajamas and night- 
gowns are made. This mill not only makes the cloth, but does all the dye work 
and napping. The Cox Manufacturing Company manufactures yarns up to the 
50's. The Townsend Cotton Mill makes twines and carpet warps. The Orr Cot- 
ton Mill devotes its energies to wide and narrow print cloths. The Gluck Mills 
makes fine lawns, running as high as 13 1-2 and 14 yards to the pound. The 
Riverside Manufacturing Company manufacture yarns up to No 30' s. 

At quite a number of the mills, such as the Saxon, Watts and the Victor, the 
"Dobby" looms are used for the manufacture of fancy weaves, such as are gener- 
ally used for shirt waists and shirt patterns. Beautiful styles, designed and 
manufactured by Southern mills in this new line, are attracting a great deal of 
attention in the cotton goods market. There are a great many of the fancy de- 
signs on the market, made out of print cloths manufactured by South Carolina 
mills. The Spartan Mill, for instance, has an imitation English dress goods on the 
market that is beautiful, and one of the best sellers on the market. Goods that 
are made here, after they leave the "converters," are hardly recognizable, as they 
are given such beautiful finishes by printing or otherwise. The basis is supplied 
in "the browns" by the Carolina mills. 

The South Carolina mills are entering to some extent into the manufacture of 
towels, bedspreads, Turkish bath towels, bath mats, fine damask tablecloths. 
The Irene Mills, in Gaffney, is turning out a very fine quality of mercerized 
damask towels. The Jordan Manufacturing Company, of Gaffnejr, and the Messrs 
Graham, of Greenville, have built up a considerable trade in towels, and a great 
many people would be surprised to know how considerable a business the Lex- 
ington Manufacturing Company has established with its every day bed ticking. 
The great trouble is that when a cotton mill manufactures one particular grade 
of goods, unless it be standard sheetings or print cloths, the market is likely io 
be overstocked. I do not know that it would be particularly interesting for me to 
go into details concerning the construction of the various classes of goods that 
are made by the South Carolina cotton mills, and on that account I am simply 



194 

giving for general consumption a summary of the various grades of goods made 
by the South Carolina cotton mills, of which the following is a synopsis, arranged 
by counties, at best unsatisfactory: 

WHAT THEY MAKE. 

The Abbeville Cotton Mills— Sheetings. 

Aiken Manufacturing Company— Sheetings, shirtings, drills, prints. 
Graniteville Manufacturing Company, (includes Vaucluse)— Sheetings, shirtings 
and drills. 

Langley Manufacturing Company— Sheetings, shirtings. 

Warren Manufacturing Company— Print cloths, standard. 

Anderson Cotton Mills — Print cloths, standard. 

Belton Mills — Sheetings, shirtings and drills. 

Brogan Mills— Flannels and dress goods. 

Conneross Yarn Mill— Yarns. 

Chiquola Manufacturing Company— Print cloths, wide and narrow 

Cox Manufacturing Company— 36-2, 40-1 and 40-2 yarns. 

Gluck Mills — Lawns and sateens. 

Jackson Mills— Sheetings, 36", 4 and 4.50 yards for domestic export trade. 

Orr Cotton Mills— Sheetings and print cloths. 

Pelzer Manufacturing Company— Sheetings and drills. 

Pendleton Cotton Mills— Yarns. 

Pendleton Manufacturing Company— Coarse yarns. 

Riverside Manufacturing Company— Cotton yarns. 

H. C. Townsend Cotton Mill— Carpet warps and No 2 yarns. 

Toxaway Mills— Print cloths. 

Williamston Mills— Print cloths. 

Bamberg Cotton Mills— Sheetings and yarns, 6-yard sheetings. 

Royal Bag and larn Manufacturing Company— Yarn, cloth and bags. 

Cherokee Falls Manufacturing Company— Print cloths and yarns. 

Gaffney Manufacturing Company— Wide print cloths. 

Globe Manufacturing Company— Lace curtain yarns. 

Irene Mills— Mercerized tablecloths, fine goods. 

Limestone Mills— Print cloths, sheetings. 

Whitaker Cotton Mills— Hosiery yarns, 10's to 40's. 

Eureka Cotton Mills— Yarns, 4 to 30. 

Manetta Cotton Mills— Cotton blankets, cotton flannel, yarns. 

Springstien Mills— Staple ginghams. 

Wylie Mills— Yarns. 

Walterboro Cotton Mills— 38.2 and 36-inch, sixty-four square goods. 

Darlington Manufacturing Company— Print cloths and fancies. 

The Hartsville Cotton Mill— Print cloths. 

Edgefield Manufacturing Company— Sheetings, shirtings and yarns. 

Fairfield Cotton Mills— Print cloths end two-ply skein yarn. 

American Spinning Company— 35", 36", 39", 40", 52", 60" sheetings, ply yarns. 

Batesville Mill— Cotton yarns, 14's. 

Brandon Mills— Sheetings and print cloths. 

Camperdown Mills— Fancy yarns and staple ginghams. 

The Carolina Mills— Print cloths and bag goods. 

Fork Shoals Manufacturing Company— Cotton yarns, mostly No 20. 



195 

Fountain Inn Manufacturing Company— 2 to 5-ply yarns. 

Franklin Mills— Four-yard and 5-yard sheetings and 4.30 drills. 

Huguenot Mills— Cottonades, cheviot, plaids, outing, towels. 

Mills Manufacturing Company— Fine twills. 

Monaghan Mills— Print cloths, fancy dress goods and shirtings, shade cloth. 

McGee Manufacturing Company— Blankets, both cotton mix and wool. 

The Pelham Mills— Yarns, 6, 15 to 16.15. 

Piedmont Manufacturing Company— Sheetings and drills, also some yarns. 

F. W. Poe Manufacturing Company— Fine convertible cotton cloths. 

Reedy River Manufacturing Compaq'— Sheetings and drills. 

Vardry Cotton Mills — Yarns, black and white. 

Woodside Cotton Mills— Print cloths. 

Greenwood Cotton Mills— Sheetings and drills. 

Grendel Cotton Mills— Shirtings and sheetings. 

Ninety-Six Cotton Mill— Print cloths. 

Ware Shoals Manufacturing Company— Sheetings, drills and print cloths. 

Hermitage Cotton Mills— 33 1-2, 60-52,6" fine sheetings. 

Pine Creek Manufacturing Compauy — 4.25 sheetings. 

Lancaster Cotton Mills— Print cloth, sheetings and yarns. 

Banna Manufacturing Company— Yarns. 

Clinton Cotton Mills— Fancy stripes, cords, lawns. 

Laurens Cotton Mills— Print cloths, sateens and fancy shirtings. 

Lydia Cotton Mills— Fine shirtings and plain wides and sateens. 

Watts Mills— Fine lawns. 

Lexington Manufacturing Company— Six-ounce bed tickings. 

Middleburg Mills— Ticking and shirtings. 

Saxa-Gotha Mills— Shirtings, 28-36 yarns. 

Dillon Cotton Mills— Yarns. 

Hamer Cotton Mills— Ply yarns from 14 to 32-inch, 2, 3 and 4-ply. 

Maple Cotton Mills— Yarns. 

Marion Manufacturing Company— Two-ply lace curtains, yarns. 

Marlboro Cotton Mills— Yarns. 

Octoraro Mill Company— Cotton yarns from No 12 1-2 to No 24 1-4. 

Glenn-Lowry Manufacturing Company— Brown shirtings. 

Mollohon Manufacturing Company— Print goods and fancy goods. 

The Newberry Cotton Mills— Heavy sheetings and drills. 

The Cheswell Cotton Mills— Heavy sheetings, shirtings and drills. 

The Courtenay Manufacturing Compauy— Print cloths. 

Seneca Cotton Mills— 5.35 sheetings. 

Walhalla Cotton Mills— Print cloths and sheetings. 

Orange Cotton Mills— Twine and rope. 

Orangeburg Manufacturing Company— Brown shirtings. 

Calumet Manufacturing Company— Yarn. 

Easley Cotton Mills— Convertible ani export sheeting. 

Glenwood Cotton Mills— Print cloths. 

Issaquena Mills— 28", 64 by CO print goods. 

Liberty Cotton Mills— Wide print cloths and sateens. 

Norris Cotton Mills Company— Wide convertibles. 

Pickens Cotton Mills— Print cloths and wide goods. 

Capital City Mills— Fine sheeting. 



196 

Columbia Mills Company— Duck, rope and twine, heavy duck, sail cloth. 
Granby Cotton Mills— Print cloth constructions. 
Olympia Cotton Mills— Print cloth constructions. 
Palmetto Cotton Mills— Fancy cotton weaves. 
Richland Cotton Mills— Sheetings and drills. 
Apalache Mills— Fancy weaves. 
Arcadia Mills— 88 by 72, 39", 4.75 sheetings. 
Arkwright Mills— Heavy drills. 

Beaumont Manufacturing Company— Cloth and yarns. 
Clinton Manufacturing Company— Sheetings, drills and print cloths. • 
D. E. Converse Company— Sheetings and print cloths. 
Cowpens Manufacturing Company— Sheetings. 
Drayton Mills— Lawns. 

Enoree Manufacturing Company— Brown cotton sheetings and drills. 
Fingerville Manufacturing Company— Yarns, 14.2 to 30.2. 
Inman Mills— Fine sheetings. 

Jordan Manufacturing Company— Turkish towels and crochet bedspreads. 
Mary Louise Mills— Fine and coarse yarns. 
Pacolet Manufacturing Company— Brown sheetings and drills. 
Saxon Mills— Print cloth and fancies. 

Spartan Mills— Sheeting, shirting, print goods, converters. 
Tucapau Mills— Print cloths, 27", 64 by 60, 7.60. 
Tyger Cotton Mills— Cotton sheetings. 
Valley Falls Manufacturing Company— Fancy weaves. 

"Victor Manufacturing Company— Converters, striped Madras, checked Madras, 
dimities. 

Whitney Manufacturing Company— Sheetings, 4-yard, 5-yard, 2.85-yard goods. 

Woodruff Cotton Mills— Shade cloth and sheetings. 

Sumter Cotton Mills— Cotton yarns. 

Aetna Cotton Mills— Fine sheetings. 

Jonesville Manufacturing Company— Hosiery yarns, hosiery and cloth. 

Lockhart Mills— Four-yard to 2.85 sheetings. 

Monarch Cotton Mills— Sheetings, standard print cloths. «, 

Union-Buffalo Mills Company— Sheetings and drills, wide print cloths. 

Aragon Cotton Mills— Sheeting, 48-inch. 

Arcade Cotton Mills— Wide print cloth, 68 by 72, 39-inch. 

Clover Cotton Mills— Fine combed yarns, using Egyptian cotton. N 

Fort Mill Manufacturing Company— Ginghams. 

Highland Park Manufacturing Company— Cotton ginghams. 

Mill, Fort Mill Company— Ginghams. 

Manchester Cotton Mills— Bed tickings, yarns. > x 

Neely Manufacturing Company— Coarse yarns. 

"Victoria Cotton Mills— Ginghams. 

Tavora Cotton Mills— Hosiery yarns. s 

York Cotton Mills— Medium fine cotton yarns, 40 1-2. 

The Hamilton Carhart Cotton Mills— Denims, shirtings, etc. -. \ ' \ 






197 

KNITTING MILLS. ! 

Excelsior Knitting Mills— Cotton yarns, cotton hosiery and paper boxes. 

Oconee Knitting Mills— Cotton seamless hosiery. 

The Westminster Knitting Mills— Socks. 

The Blue Ridge Hosiery Mill— Medium grade hosiery. 

Ailing & Green Knitting Mills— Hosiery. 

Manning Knitting Mills— Hosiery. 

Ashley Manufacturing Company— Knit goods, underwear, seamless half hosiery. 

G. H. Tilton & Sons— Hosiery. 

Crescent Manufacturing Company— Knit underwear, fancy goods, boys' and chil- 
dren's. 

Bowling Green Knitting Mills— Hosiery and underwear. 

Corona Mills, Anderson— Women' 3 and children's hose. 

Jonesville Manufacturing Company— Men's and women's hosiery. 

It may, however, be interesting to know that what are classed as the finer 
grades of goods made in South Carolina by such mills as Drayton and the 
Capital City Mills, of Columbia, are built up in this fashion: 

9-yard goods, 40 inches wide, 72 by 60 pick, 55 yarns for the warp and 75 for 
the filling. 

10-yard goods to the pound, 36 inches wide, 72 by 60 pick, 55 warp and 75 filling. 

14 yards to the pound, 28 inches wide, 68 by 56 pick, 55 warp and 75 filling. 

On the 7.30 print cloths, which is a very general style of construction, they are 
28 inches wide, 64 by 60 pick, 29 1-2 warp and 37 filling. Another frequent con- 
struction is on goods that weigh 5.15 yards to the pound; they are 38 1-2 inches wide 
and 64-64 pick, 29 1-2 warp and 37 filling. A number of the mills are making 
goods that weigh 4.25 yards to the pound, and run their pick up as high as 90-30. 
One of the big sellers is on 5.35 yards to the pound of cotton goods, which meas- 
ure 38 1-2 inches in "the brown," (that is, before being bleached,) 64 by 60 pick, 
40 for the filling yarn and 30 for the warp yarn. 

It is not within the range of this series of articles on the South Carolina cotton 
mills to indicate or tabulate the prices that now obtain for the goods— they fluc- 
tuate terribly. It is sufficient to say that just at this time the South Carolina, 
cotton mills, where properly managed and where the labor supply is ample, are 
making money. The prices are not near as steady nor as good as they were a 
few short months ago, and the demand is not so good. The demand for good3 
just now is somewhat unsettled; until a few months ago it was strong. 

The cotton mills are very like the farmers and other industries, and have their 
good and bad years. Just at this time, when the farmers are hopeful of prosperity 
with good prices for cotton, the cotton mills are obtaining fair prices for their 
products, and they are sharing their good fortune with their operatives. They 
would to-day like to get the prices of six months ago, and hold these prices, but 
cotton and the product are a little "off" just now. Quite a number of mills in this 
State are manufacturing ginghams, particularly those around Chester and Green- 
ville. They have their own dye houses and put the manufactured product on 
the market. The great bulk of the goods in this State, however, is turned out in 
what is known as "the brown;" that is, they are unbleached, and the bleaching 
and converting process is generally done in the North and East. There is one 
bleachery at Greenville— the Union Bleachery and Finishing Company— which is 
doing a remarkably successful business, and has practically all the work that it 
can undertake. 



198 

The outlook is that there will he more such bleacheries in time in this State. 
Most of the cotton mills sell their products in an unbleached condition, but a 
number of them are having the bleaching and converting done on their own 
account, and in that way are getting the benefit of increased prices for the pro- 
duct that is entirely finished. Some of the mills are cultivating direct dealing with 
the wholesale and consuming trade. Most of the cotton mills sell through com- 
mission agents, and they have done good service to the South Carolina cotton 
mills. The commissions for selling goods run all the way from 2 to 4 per cent; 
the rate varying according to the class of goods, the financial strength of the mill, 
whether advances are to be made or not, the insurance of the payment of all 
sales and kindred business considerations. Some mills insure their own sales, 
and it is altogether a complex question and one hardly of general concern, as 
each mill makes its own arrangements. The yarn mills pay higher commis- 
sions and guarantees than the cloth goods mills, as their sales are smaller in 
volume. 



ARTICLE XXX — Immigration or Emigration. 

If the cotton mill industry in South Carolina is to grow, more help is needed, 
and the sole question in this connection is: Where is the help to come from? 
There is a diversity of opinion as to the best answer. A great many people are 
of the opinion that the industry has grown faster than it should have, and that 
it is quite enough for this one State to offer employment in its cotton mills for 
54,000 people and for it to consume 700,000 bales of cotton. 

There are others who think that South Carolina, on account of its superior 
climatic conditions, and because of the eminent successes of those who have gone 
into the business, should continue to expand industrially. That cotton mills can 
succeed here there is no longer any question. The help that is here has been 
"spread as thin" as it can be. Of course, the labor saving devices are important 
factors, but they do not keep pace with the increase of spindles. This State is to- 
day making very much finer goods than it did several years ago, and the slump 
in the demand for export goods has forced many of the mills that were work- 
ing on the heavier grades of goods to manufacture finer cloths, and as a result 
fewer operatives are needed in these particular mills. It may be that as the in- 
dustry develops in that way the demand for help will not grow as much as some 
of the mill presidents fear. New mills, of course, demand additional labor from 
some source. 

Last year, as is known, the cotton mills through their association, and in co- 
operation with State Commissioner E. J. Watson, introduced upon two separate 
occasions foreign labor into this State. The experiment showed that foreign la- 
bor could be gotten, and that foreigners could be used in the cotton mills of this 
State without friction. There have been no further efforts along this line, and the 
committee on immigration of the Manufacturers' Association, which has done 
such excellent work, while given carte blanche as to further operations, deter- 
mined to wait awhile on further developments, as there is an improvement in 
the labor situation, and it is better this fall than it has been for some time. 

During the past year or two the cotton mills have been very liberal in their 
campaign for securing new help, and in addition to the efforts that have been 
made, in connection with the introduction of foreign labor through the department 
of immigration, I have a note in which this significant statement is made: "I 
find from the chairman of the committee of immigration that between 3,500 and 
3,600 people have been brought into the cotton mill villages from the mountainous 
country of Tennessee and North Carolina during the last two years, and are sup- 
posed to be somewhere in this State." I think that the concensus of opinion is that 
fully seventy-five per cent of all of thesepeople remain in the cotton mills. This 
is the number reported to the Cotton Manufacturers' Association, and it does not 
include those who came of their own accord to seek work from outside the State 
nor does it include the operatives brought to the mills by the independent action 
of the cotton mills and not reported to the Association. There were probably five 
hundred people brought over on the "Wittekind." Of this number but few re- 
main in the cotton mills of this State. Not because of any fault in the experiment, 
but because of the restlessness and the desire to do better on the part of those 
who came. 

It was not to be expected that each of the passengers who came over on the 
"Wittekind" could be cross-examined, and a great many who reported themselves 



200 

as being cotton mill operatives had probably never seen a cotton mill; but those 
who were real cotton mill operatives, and who went into the mills of this State 
are pleased with their work and satisfied with the pay. Then it may be asked why 
these are not there still? There are a variety of reasons. One is that they had 
never seen any other cotton mill in the South or the New England States and 
imagined that the conditions and pay are better elsewhere. In fact I understand 
that one lot of fifty or seventy-five went from a cotton mill in this State to a 
plant at Columbus, Ga, simply because they wanted to see what the conditions 
there were. And then a great many of them were persuaded that the opportu- 
nities of the West were greater than those of the South, and some of the men and 
women who came to this State as mill operatives are now on the farms of Ne- 
braska. But the greatest difficulty seemed to be in getting the Belgians accustom- 
ed to the conditions here. Everything seemed so strange and new to them, and as 
one of them expressed it to me, "it was unthinkable that he had been in Columbia 
for a week had not had a bottle of beer." But the experiment was successful in a 
great many ways, and whenever this State appreciates the necessity of bringing 
foreign labor here the laborers know that they will get good pay and the mill 
presidents know that they can get the labor to come ; and if they go from one mill 
to another they will relieve the stress wherever they may go. It is to be noted 
that the understanding was that skilled mill operatives were not wanted on the ini- 
tial trip of the "Wittekind;" able-bodied and industrious men and women were de- 
sired rather than skilled operatives. It takes little time to train a willing worker. 
The South Carolina Cotton Manufacturers' Association bore the expenses of the 
"Wittekind" experiment. 

Mr Waiter S. Montgomery, in talking the matter over, said that he was sat- 
isfied that there were as many of the original or native operatives in Spartanburg 
County as ever, but that they were scattered to such an extent as to give the impres- 
sion that they were not all there, and that a general roll call would show that there 
were no fewer of the original help than ever, but that they were badly scattered. 
He is a great believer in the North Carolina and Tennessee help, and thinks there 
are still a great many workers who can be gotten from these States. Mr Jno B. 
Cleveland is also of the opinion that the real source of supply is from other States 
of this Union rather than from abroad. 

Mr Hammett did not have any of the "Wittekind" people at the Chiquola Mills, 
but he is decidedly of the opinion that foreign help is absolutely essential to the 
cotton mills as well as to the farmers if this State is to continue to grow. 

Mr Rennie, of the Graniteville Manufacturing Company, who is a close ob- 
server, and who is as familiar with the conditions of the New England cotton mills 
as he is with those in this State says "if there is to be any further development 
of the cotton mills in the South that it will have to be by the introduction of for- 
eign labor." 

Mr LeRoy Springs agrees with Mr P. H. Gadsden, of Charleston, in the opin- 
ion that the hope of this State is in bringing labor here for the farmers, and he 
believes if the farms are brought up to their full opportunities that the mills will 
have plenty of help. At present 75 per cent of the operatives in the cotton mills 
of Lancaster are native and the remaining 25 per cent are scattered, mostly from 
North Carolina. Mr Fewell, of Rock Hill, had 17 of the "Wittekind's" passengers 
at his mills, and he found them an expensive experiment; but he thinks that there 
are great possibilities in this method of providing new help. Mr Wannamaker, of 
Orangeburg, believes that the native help is the best, and that although cotton may 



201 

be bringing fancy prices that there will always be enough native help to supply 
the demands of the smaller mills. Mr W. E. Beattie is convinced that the "Witte- 
kind" experiment made has established the fact that foreign help will assimilate 
with South Carolina help. 

Capt Ellison A. Smyth, president of the South Carolina Manufacturers' Asso- 
ciation, who took a keen interest in the experiment of the "Wittekind," is con- 
vinced that foreign labor can be used in the South Carolina cotton mills. He 
does not wish to see foreign labor brought here unless it is nececsary, because 
of the better understanding with home talent, but he is satisfied that the efforts 
already made have been in the right direction. Mr Aug W. Smith, who is now 
at the head of the Union-Buffalo properties and Woodruff, is satisfied that the real 
solution of the labor problem is in foreign help. It is to be noted that the Un- 
ion-Buffalo Mills on their own account brought in considerable North Carolina 
operatives. ] 

Mr W. G. Smith, of Orangeburg, is of the opinion that the time is coming in 
this State when outside labor will have to be brought in, and he believes that the 
possibilities of foreign labor are splendid. 

There is no particular use for me to go over the story of the help brought here 
by the "Wittekind." There are some of them still in this State, and they seem 
to be perfectly satisfied. When I was at Pelzer I found that eighteen or twenty 
had just returned there after having gone to Georgia on a little investigation trip 
of their own. Most of them were at work in the cotton mills and were doing 
very well and were pleased. One of the number seemed to know a great deal 
more about gardening than he did of cotton mill work, and was engaged in trim- 
ming the trees of the property. There were about seventy-five of these immi- 
grants in Columbia, but at this time there is but one family here; the others 
have scattered and are engaged in various lines of work. Some of them may, of 
course, drift back, but as in all works of this kind there has to be a good deal of 
experimenting. The proportion of those who remain, while it may be small, very 
small, is beneficial to the State at large. A number of the "Wittekind" pas- 
sengers went to Anderson, but so far as I could ascertain there were only a few 
of them left at the Orr Cotton Mills. I talked to Mr Rudolph Fast, who is en- 
gaged in the machine shops, and he is making $1 75 per day. He seems to be very 
much pleased with his work; to such a degree that he wrote home and induced his 
friend, Emery Striskahl, to come over and join him in the machine shops at the 
Orr Mills. I talked to both of these men while there, and they told me that they 
were getting along very well and liked everything here except the biscuits, and 
they suggested that they did not know what they would do without the bread of 
Mr Oltman, who is a German baker, and who has been at Anderson for a num- 
ber of years. At Anderson I found a number of Germans who came over here 
about twenty years ago, who are at work in the cotton mills. Among those who 
came over here at that time were the Langs and Rondas, who came as a result of 
the efforts of the late Col Crayton and others. 

At Union I found a family of Segaskeys, who had been at work at Union and 
the Poe Mills, and I am sure there were foreigners who had gone to work in 
other mills. At Chester there were at one time as many as fifty of the "Witte- 
kind" passengers, but when I was there in August there were three of the number 
at work. 

The most interesting and most sucesscful effort with the introduction of foreign 
labor in any of the mills is at Monaghan, where Mr Thos P. Parker, who ife the 



202 

chairman of the committee of immigralian of the South Carolina Manufacturers' 
Association, has demonstrated beyond question the fact that foreign labor can be 
brought to the cotton mills of South Carolina; that they can work side by side 
with the already established help, and that the foreign laborers can be made per- 
fectly satisfied with local conditions, the most difficult phase of the undertaking. 
At the time of my visit to Greenville there were from thirty -five to fifty Belgians 
at work in the mill. The first time I went to Greenville I talked to a young Flem- 
ish boy, Chas Dumalder. He said he was making between $1 20 and $1 50 per day, 
and was entirely satisfied, and that he had been working in Belgium at 50 cents 
per day, and that everything went well with him here. Dumalder speaks English 
very well, and is a bright young fellow. He thought that the conditions in South 
Carolina cotton mills were altogether satisfactory. On the occasion of my second 
visit to the Monaghan Cotton Mills I made special effort to look into the foreign 
labor proposition, and talked to several of the Belgians who were then at this mill. 
I met a Mr Louis Braeckelaere, who seems to be somewhat of a leader with the 
Belgians. I found Mr Braeckelaere at his home, and at the same time I talked to 
three or four of the Belgians who were working in the mills. Mr Braeckelaere 
told me that there was no comparison between the pay of the Belgians in their 
native mills and what they made in South Carolina. A weaver in Belgium made 
about $3 60 per week, and the same weaver in this State was making $7 50. The 
board in Belgium was about $2 10 per week, and here it was $2 50. In fact Mr 
Braeckelaere was himself boarding a number of the operatives at this price, and 
it is interesting to note that these prices of $2 50 per week included not only board 
and lodging, but washing and the repairing and tending of the clothes. Mr 
Braeckelaere said that there was no difficulty at all for the operatives to make 
plenty of money and for them to be satisfied, but that where the Belgians were 
not operatives, and had had no previous experience or skill in mill work that they 
were not doing so well, and found it difficult to make sufficient money with which 
to be satisfied. 

While I was at Mr Braeckelaere's home he talked to me for some time about 
the antagonism in Belgium that the efforts of Commissioner Watson and his 
(Braeckelaere's) individual work had brought about. He gave me a little book 
in which he had undertaken to reply to an address delivered by Mr Persoons be- 
fore the House of Parliament in Belgium. It seems that Mr Persoons delivered an 
address before the Belgium Parliament, nsisting that the Belgians should be kept 
at home and complaining of their coming to this State. Mr Braeckelaere pre- 
sented a paper in reply, and this document has been translated in English by one 
of his friends. 

• In this little book Mr Braeckelaere has these interesting comments, as trans- 
lated in Belgian: 

"Nothing is easier than to get thousands of persons to South Carolina, but 
the main thing is to keep them there. The first feeling which the emigrant under- 
goes is disparaging. Everything seems so strange and so unusual; the language, 
the way of living, the morals, the prospects are so different from ours that they 
need a lot of courage to overcome this feeling. 

The work of migration has to go on very slowly, and only to take place where 
countrymen are already established. 

If they want emigrants in those places where there are none, then the best 
thing to do is to send to those places some of the families already established in 
South Carolina. ' 



203 

Still more than for the cultivation of cotton they need husbandmen, Belgians, 
especially the Flemish, are known to be the best ground workers, and it is my in- 
tense wish to introduce them into South America, but for servants it is improper. 
It is especially the question of the kitchen which is still an impossible thing to 
surmount. For peasants who would come over with some money and would work 
and live here with some of their countrymen it would be for them a sure fortune. 
Everything grows so richly and for one everything there is a good market place. 
One Fleming is worth three negroes. The cultivation of cotton, which needs so 
little tending would, by the careful work of our Flemish people, give nicer harvest 
and a greater benefit. 

The South Americans (he means South Carolinians) have little foresight and 
take little pains: his everlasting white shirt and stand-up collar never leaves him, 
it is his pride and he is satisfied with it. 

It will be noted that the translation of Mr Braeckelaere's views is not alto- 
gether faultless, but it conveys his impression of the situation here. In concluding 
his argument in reply to the complaint oof the Belgian member of Parliament, he 
makes this conclusion: "The new comers prefer to go to large towns, to crowd 
together, to be in want, to have no future, and to tire out their lives by im- 
pudicity and alcohol,"— "impudicity" is not explained. 

The chief point of my interview with Mr Braeckelaere was that the Belgians 
are making more money than they made in Belgium, that they are satisfied, that 
they are sending money home, that they want more of their own people to come 
here, their chief grievance, and that there are thousands of their fellow country- 
men who can be brought here with the slightest effort. Mr Braeckelaere told me 
that he was satisfied that he could get as many as 1,000 operatives to come to 
South Carolina, and that if they were selected from actual operatives that he was 
convinced that they would be satisfied with the pay and satisfied with conditions 
in this State. He has made a visit to Belgium and induced some of the Belgians 
to accept work in the mills, but for the present his efforts in this direction are 
not being sought, as the Monaghan Mills seem to be amply supplied with labor 
at this time. Mr Braeckelaere told me that some of the Belgians who had come 
here had heard a great deal about work and pay in the New England mills, and 
that they had gone there in the hope of making more money, but after having 
gone to New England cotton mills they returned to Greenville, and were then at 
work there, having found that they could net more money in the Southern mills. 
He said that the foreigners brought here to go into the cotton mills were more 
attracted to the West than by the cotton mills outside of the State. He told 
me of the visit of the Belgian minister to this State, and agreed with Baron Mon- 
cheur that the operatives were well cared for in this State and the promises that 
had been made had been carried out. While I was at Mr Braeckelaere's house the 
dinner meal was served and a number of the Belgians came in for dinner, and at 
that time I made inquiry as to the menu. They had for breakfast, two eggs each, 
a cup of coffee and some cakes. Some times when they did not have eggs they 
had cheese. No meat was served for breakfast. For dinner the menu was soup, 
tomatoes, beans, fresh meat and once a week veal or fresh pork in season. Gen- 
erally potatoes were served, but when potatoes were not available or high, rice 
was substituted. At night milk and rice were served, together with bread and 
ham or meat that had been left over from dinner. On Sunday chocolate was 
served with currant bread or some other dessert; sometimes sardines were served 
as an extra dish. This was the usual bill of fare on a basis of $2 50 a week, which 



204 

included lodging, washing and sewing. It is to be noted that soup was served 
every day, and the Belgians thought that potatoes were very high and that milk 
was selling higher than it ought. At all events all of these Belgians seemed satis- i 
fled, and if this number are successful and happy at Monaghan there is absolute- 
ly no reason why foreign laborers should not prosper, and why they should not 
make good citizens. While I was at Mr Braeckelaere's one of the number re- 
ceived a letter from a friend who had left there and sought work elsewhere, ask- 
ing him if he could return to Greenville and get employment; and I found that 
some of them were also sending money to Belgium for some of their kin. 

Mr Thos F. Parker has the satisfaction of knowing that not a piece of ma- 
chinery at the Monaghan Mills is idle. He takes the advanced position that it is 
the duty of every man in a position to do so to advance the condition of his help, 
and that no mill president or executive has a right to debase his fellow citizen, 
nor has he the right to do anything that will cheapen the labor and not fit the la- 
borers for the more advanced positions of life. The South, he thinks, has been 
accustomed for a long time to have people begging for work. The conditions are 
now changed, and his idea is that if the mills now continue to improve conditions, 
and make living in the mills more attractive that they will attract to the mills 
labor that does not now care to go there. 

To the energy and effort of Mr Thos F. Parker is very largely due the suc- 
cess of tiding over the crisis in this State in the matter of labor and of the es- 
tablishment of the fact that foreign labor can be brought over here and that 
it will not be antagonistic to the operatives already in the mills. 

I have before me a very enthusiastic letter, written by Karl Palme, apropos of 
conditions in this State. He is rather violent in some of his views, and it would 
have been better for him to have given facts and less criticism. His views, as a 
foreigner, will be apt and interesting. He wrote as follows: 

Jonesville, S. C, November 4, 1907.— Mr E. J. Watson, Commissioner of Im- 
migration, Columbia, S. C— Dear Sir: The New York Commercial of Thursday, 
October 31, 1907, published an article headed: "Finds Peonage Blight is Hamper- 
ing the South." 

As a foreigner myself, who has been in the mill business in Russia, Austria, 
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and now in South Carolina, and having had plenty of 
opportunity to see mills in Germany, Bohemia and a great many States of the 
United States, take herewith the liberty to say that there is no State in the 
Union where a laborer is treated with as much consideration as here. The em- 
ployer is standing shoulder to shoulder with his help— has a good word for them, 
and is ever ready to care for their needs. I can even say that a stranger not ac- 
quainted with the help, officers and owners of the mill would be unable to dis- 
tinguish them outside ^ of the mill. You will find in Europe and Northern mills 
that the laborer must stay in his class and be considered nothing more than a 
machine. 

It is true that wages in the North are slightly higher, but not like Miss Quack- 
enbush mentions, and if you will consider the expenses of living North you will 
easily find that the South pays comparatively higher wages than the North; and 
I must say from what I know of the South, having lived two years in Ten- 
nessee and one in South Carolina, that I am inclined to doubt the statement made 
by Miss Quackenbush, and rather believe that it is nothing else but misrepresen- 
tation of affairs intended to stem the tide of immigration to the South. 



205 

Statistics will show plainly that the South is destined to be the centre of 
textile manufacturing, being supported by its proximity to the cotton fields, the 
wonderful climate, low cost of living and the democracy of this hospitable peo- 
ple. 

I feel that I am in position to speak intelligently in this matter, as I am 
neither from the North nor the South; but am a subject of the Government of 
Austria— having been in this country for eight years, five years in Philadelphia 
and three in the South, and for ten years previous in the textile mill business in 
Europe, which gives me a vast opportunity to judge the situation of labor. 

The Yankee sees all the points just as well as I do, and as he cannot fight the 
South with "sword and gun," as it is a part of the Union, he will not shrink from 
using the newspapers in America and Europe to discourage labor from coming 
South. It is a proven fact that they even distributed maps in European ports 
where all territory below Mason and Dixon's line is printed in black with the 
slight remarks on the bottom: "Black part only inhabited by colored race." 

Two years ago I spent a solid week studying the handling of immigrants at 
Ellis Island, and in spite of the protecting rules of the American Government not 
to destine any immigrants to any part of the United States, I found, and if you 
will investigate you will also find, that the immigrants are ticketed like freight 
or cattle for all Eastern, Western and Northern roads and landed like freight— 
and from what I can see and also from personal interviews with Hungarian, Rus- 
sian, German and Polish interpreters, it seems to me that these men must have 
some reason to boycott the South. The only laborers they are willing for the 
South to have are the Italians, and very few of them. 

If I had known when landing in New York eight years ago the real condition 
of the South I would never have stopped off Mason and Dixon's line, as the op- 
portunities for willing hands and brains are much greater down here than in any 
other part of the Union; and I can advise any industrious foreigner to come to 
this section where land is still cheap, where living expenses are moderate and 
temptation to dissipate is very limited. There are millions of acres of good land 
lying idle in the South, and many landlords looking for good families to bring 
them into cultivation, either on a basis of yearly rentals or to sell on easy terms. 
And just as many foreigners experienced in running small farms are looking for 
an opportunity to earn themselves a home. 

It will not be very hard for you, if you visit New York, or Philadelphia, to find 
what is called "sweat shops," filled with all the nationalities tied to work in 
these places, they get much lower wages than in the South, and they only stay 
there because they have not the means to move. The most horrible and unsan- 
itary conditions can be seen in the large Northern cities on the back streets, 
where these people are forced to live. If Miss Quackenbush is able to find any- 
thing comparing with this in the South I would be very glad to know where they 
are. Manufacturing in the South is comparatively young and alone out of this 
reason you will not be able to find many old mills. The most of those I have seen 
are nice, light, airy sanitary structures with every modern improvement regardless 
of cost. The mill village is generally on a hill and as the houses are built out 
of wood the insurance companies see to it that they are not crowded like they are 
In cities. Every family has a little garden with his house— and if you will take 
the trouble to visit a few of the mill villages you will find that at least 50 per 
cent of the operatives have their own milk cows, plenty of chickens and in many 
places I have seen the mills give them free pasture for their cattle. 



206 

The average rental in this section is from 50 to 75c per room per month, which 
amounts for a four-room house, to $24 per year. These houses are well built 
—painted outside and sealed or plastered inside with two open fire places and 
stove flues. 

Attached hereto you will find a comparative schedule of wages from 1898 to 
1907 at the knitting mill of the Jonesville Manufacturing Company. You will see 
clearly that the wages have been raised enormously, in some instances 400 per 
cent. I do not believe there is another section of the United States that will show 
the same percentage of increase. 

I hope I have not imposed on you with this long letter; but I felt that justice 
ought to be done by telling the truth about the conditions in the South. Yours 
very truly, Karl Palme. 

There are in the cotton mills in this State a number of superintendents who 
had their early training in the New England cotton mills. Such men as Wilbur, 
and Winslow and Rennie, and others who have made marked successes of their 
lives. When they left New England the cotton mills there were in charge of na- 
tive help. Some of these men have gone back to the mills with which they were 
connected twenty years ago, and they now find that there is not ten per cent of 
the labor American born; and they think that the Southern mills will in time go 
through this same process. It is interesting to read the story of the changes of 
the labor conditions in the New England mills, and how to-day practically the 
entire operative force in these mills are foreigners. If the South Carolina cotton 
mills in time have to bring in foreign laborers to supply the operative force, no 
one need have any fear, if any can be shown in the selection of the people and 
the existing State law is followed. 

1898. 1907. 

Per day. Per day. 

Knitting $175 $3 00 

Topping 187 2 50 

Looping 175 3 50 

Inspecting 50 70 

Ribbing 25 100 

Engineer 40 1 50 

The question may be made political, and this is not the proper place to enter 
into the pros and cons of immigration; suffice it to say that it is generally agreed 
that any county is helped by desirable, honest and industrious workers, whether 
they go on the farms or into the cotton mills. If new operatives come here those 
already here will be advanced and secure the better positions; but this is not a 
paper on immigration. It is to be remembered that the existing statute laws of 
South Carolina contemplate only the introduction of "desirable" settlers. Native 
help is, of course, always preferred, and the development of the mill industry in 
South Carolina is one in which the question of labor enters,- Just now, more than 
any other single factor. 



ARTICLE XXXI— Capitalization of the Mills. 

Dry details of figures are not always interesting, but it is a matter of con- 
cern to the people of this State to know that there is about $100,000,000 invested 
in the cotton mill industry and its collateral branches. The United States census 
for 1905 indicated that the total investment was $82,337,429. This included lands, 
buildings, machinery and cotton supplies. 

Commissioner Watson in his recent announcement figures that at this time the 
investment aggregates $103,821,919. This includes the one hundred and fifty-nine 
establishments in the State, embracing knitting mills, power plants, bleacheries, etc. 
It also represents the premium on the stock, as well as bonds in the various 
corporations. In other words, where the actual investment is $100,000 and the 
stock happens to sell for 150, this premium on the stock is not included in the 
capitalization. Some cotton mill presidents like to see their stock quoteTat a ^ood 
premium, and figure the investment upon the market value of the stock— while 
it may be better to figure upon a more conservative basis and estimate values upon 
the actual cash investment. 

I am giving a list of the various cotton mills in South Carolina, together with 
their capitalization. This statement gives the capital stock only at par. It does 
not include any premiums on any bond or special issues further than the stock 
issues, which are given at par and only as far as reported: 

Capitalization. 
Stock Only. 

Abbeville Cotton Mills $ 700,000 /? 

Aetna Cotton Mills 350,000 

Aiken Manufacturing Co 400,000 

American Spinning Company 600,000 

<T Anderson Cotton Mills 600,000 

Apalache Mills 500,000 

Aragon Cotton Mills 200,000 

Arcade Cotton Mills 98,700 

Arcadia Mills 200,000 

Arkwright Mills 200,000 

Bamberg Cotton Mills 140,000 

Banna Manufacturing Co 75,000 

Batesville Mill, (Putnam estate) Not given 

Beaumont Manufacturing Co 260,000 

— Belton Mills 700,000 

Brandon Mills 450,000 

^ Brogan Mills 500,000 

Calhoun Falls Mfg Co 400,000 

Calumet Manufacturing Co 77,000 

Camperdown Mills 100,000 

Capital City Mills 293,600 

Hamilton Carhart Cotton Mills 500,000 

Carolina Mills 80,500 

Cherokee Falls Mfg Co 200,000 

Cheswell Cotton Mills 200,000 

- Chiquola Manufacturing Co 383,000 



208 

Capitalization. 

Stock Only. 

Clifton Manufacturing Co 800,000 

Clinton Cotton Mills 200,000 

Clover Cotton Mills 200,000 

Columbia Mills Company 700,000 

Conneross Yarn Mill . . Not given 

D. B. Converse Company 500,000 

Courtenay Manufacturing Co 300,000 

Cowpens Manufacturing Co 120,000 

Cox Manufacturing Company 200,000 

Darlington Manufacturing Co 1,000,000 

Dillon Cotton Mills 147,500 

Drayton Mills 600,000 

Easley Cotton Mills 365,000 

Edgefield Manufacturing Co 120,800 

Enoree Manufacturing Co 700,000 

Eureka Cotton Mills 150,000 

Fairfield Cotton Mills 250,000 

Fingerville Mfg Co 50,000 

Fork Shoals Mfg Co 75,000 

Fountain Inn Mfg Co 200,000 

Franklin Mills 85,000 

Gaffney Manufacturing Co 851,000 

Glenn-Lowry Mfg Oo 500,000 

Glenwood Cotton Mills 239,800 

Globe Manufacturing Co 50,000 

Gluck Mills 450,000 

Granby Cotton Mills 706,300 

Graniteville Mfg Co 600,000 

(Includes Vaucluse) 

Greenwood Cotton Mills 282,300 

Grendel Cotton Mills 350,000 

Hamer Cotton Mills 100,000 

Hartsville Cotton Mill 324,300 

Hermitage Cotton Mills .'. 150,000 

Highland Park Mfg Co 645,100 

Huguenot Mills 140,000 

Inman Mills , 300,000 

Irene Mills 50,000 

Issaquena Mills 200,000 

Jackson Mills 325,000 

Jonesville Manufacturing Co 314,000 

Jordan Manufacturing Co 25,000 

Lancaster Cotton Mill3 775,000 

Langley Manufacturing Co 700,000 

Laurens Cotton Mills 350,000 

Lexington Manufacturing Co 150,000 

Liberty Cotton Mills 136,000 

Limestone Mills 187,500 

Lockhart Mills 1,300,000 



209 

Capitalization. 

Stock Only. 

Lydia Cotton Mills 160,000 

Manchester Cotton Mills 238,500 

Manetta Cotton Mills 200,000 

Marion Manufacturing Co 75,500 

Marlboro Cotton Mills 963,800 

Mary Louise Mills 50,000 

Maple Cotton Mills 98,300 

McGee Manufacturing Co 100,000 

Mill, Fort Mill Company 200,000 

Fort Mill Manufacturing Co 200,000 

Mills Manufacturing Co 355,600 

Mollohon Manufacturing Co 500,000 

Monaghan Mills 700,000 

Monarch Cotton Mills 400,000 

Middleburg Mills 125,000 

Neely Manufacturing Co 60,000 

Newberry Cotton Mills 400,000 

Ninety-Six Cotton Mills 200,000 

Norris Cotton Mills Company .... 250,000 

Octoraro Mill Company 30,000 

Olympia Cotton Mills 2,743,200 

Orange Cotton Mills 75,000 

Orangeburg Mfg Co 200,000 

Orr Cotton Mills 800,000 

Pacolet Manufacturing Co 2,000,000 

Palmetto Cotton Mills * 137,500 

Pelham Mills 200,000 

Pelzer Manufacturing Co 1,000,000 

Pendleton Cotton Mills 25,750 

Pendleton Manufacturing Co 34,170 

Pickens Cotton Mills 250,000 

Piedmont Manufacturing Co 800,000 

Pine Creek Manufacturing Co 300,000 

Poe Manufacturing Co 500,000 

Reedy River Mfg Co 200,000 

Richland Cotton Mills 289,700 

Riverside Mfg Co 215,000 

Royal Bag and Yarn Mfg Co 450,000 

Saxa-Gotha Mills 87,500 

Saxon Mills 300,000 

Seminole Manufacturing Co 600,000 

Seneca Cotton Mills 316,500 

Spartan Mills 1,000,000 

Springstien Mills 100,000 

Sumter Cotton Mills 39,200 

Tavora Cotton Mills 40,500 

Townsend Cotton Mill 25,000 

Toxaway Mills 196,000 

Tucapau Mills 462,100 



210 

Capitalization. 
Stock Only. 

Tyger Cotton Mills 100,000 

Union-Buffalo Mills Company 7,000,000 

Valley Falls Mfg Co 175,000 

Vardry Cotton Mills .. 75,000 

Victoria Cotton Mills .. .. ... 100,000 

Victor Manufacturing Co 684,200 

Walhalla Cotton Mills 176,000 

Walterboro Cotton Mills 100,000 

Warren Manufacturing Co ". 500,000 

Ware Shoals Mfg Co 1,000,000 

Watts Mills 300,000 

Whitaker Cotton Mills 33,800 

Whitney Manufacturing Co •.. 350,000 

— Williamston Mills 300,000 

Woodruff Cotton Mills 350,000 

Woodside Cotton Mills 600,000 

Wylie Mills 150,000 

York Cotton Mills 150,000 

Total .. $54,809 920 

KNITTING MILLS. Capitalization. 

Excelsior Knitting Mills $150,000 

Oconee Knitting Mills 15,000 

The Westminster Knitting Mills 20,000 

Blue Ridge Hosiery Mill .. 38,000 

Ailing & Green Knitting Mills 10,000 

Manning Knitting Mills 

Ashley Manufacturing Co 30,000 

G. H. Tilton & Sons , 10,000 

Crescent Manufacturing Co 48,600 

Bowling Green Knitting Mills 14,700 

P. P. Bush Knitting Mill 25,000 

Corona Knitting Mills 50,000 

Knitting mills $391,300 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Southern Aseptic Laboratory $ 60,000 

Union Bleachery and Finishing Co 294,000 

Southern Shuttle and Bobbin Co 50,000 

American Press Cloth Co 48,000 

$ 452,000 
Cotton mills (capital stock) 54,809,920 



Grand total $55,652, 



211 

It is a matter of unusual concern, and ought to be the occasion for great pride 
to know that most of the investments in cotton mill stocks is by South Carolin- 
ians. It is altogether safe, and I say it with whatever responsibility there may 
be as to my reliability, that at least 75 per cent of all the money invested in cotton 
mills in this State is that of South Carolinians. In the early days of the cotton 
mills, when the people of South Carolina had neither the money nor the confi- 
dence they now have in these enterprises, a great deal of the capital came from 
commission men and their friends, and uilte a considerable portion of the machinery 
was paid for in stock. The machinery people, as a rule, preferred the cash, and 
as soon as they could convert their stockholdings into cash disposed of the stock, 
and on that account most of the stock that was originally used in payment of 
machinery drifted into the hands of South Carolina holders. 

When I was in Spartanburg recently I was told that within the last six 
months as much as a half million dollars of New England and Eastern stock had 
found its way to Spartanburg in that time. A great deal of cotton mill stock is 
held in Charleston, and perhaps the next largest holders are by the people of 
Greenville and Spartanburg. But much of the stock is now in the hands of farmers 
who have helped to build up these enterprises, and some of it is held by the opera- 
tives. As I've already stated, most of the stock is held by South Carolina invest- 
ors. 

With a very few exceptions the presidents of the cotton mills of this State, as 
will be seen by the above list, are native born. Such men as Capt Ellison A 
Smyth, Dr S. M. Orr, Allen Jones, J. H. Maxwell, John B. Cleveland, T. K. Elliott. 
H. D. Wheat, Thos E. Moore, S. E. White, Capt W. P. Roof, Arthur Barnwell, 
Frank Hammond, J. H. Morgan, C. C. Twitty, J. C. Plonk. Capt John H. Cope. 
Geo A. Wagener, W. P. Cox and J. A. Brock have all been working for the up- 
building of this State for more than a generation. Their interests have always been 
identical with that which is best and most progressive. 

Of the generation of younger South Carolinians who are forging to the front 
as cotton mill presidents, and who are doing so much to bring this State to the 
forefront in industrial leadership, there are many notable examples. Among them 
are such men as the Montgomerys. Victor Montgomery; Walter S. Montgomery 
and J. H. Montgomery, J. L. Westervelt, the Parkers. Lewis W. and Thos P: : 
Robert E. Ljgon and D. P. McBrayer, H. C. Townsend. A. H. Twitch ell, Jas P. 
Gossett, Zack F. Wright, Thos. E. Moore and J. M. Geer, the Lucases, W. E. and his younger 
brother. Edwin W. ; J. Adger Smyth, ~anior, P. J. Inglesby and Lewis D. Blaise 
and Geo M. Wright. Then in Spartanburg the young men are coming in the front, 
with Arch B. Calvert, John A. Law, H. A. Ligon and D. L. Jennings to the fore- 
front. In the Rock Hill, Yorkville and Lancaster group there are such men a: 
LeRoy Springs, W. J. Rcddey, J. G. Wardlaw, G. H. O'Leary. W. B. Moore, T. H. 
Barron, B. D. Heath, Alex Long, R. T. Fewell, and among all these are men who 
are not only leaders in the cotton mill development, but generally take the lead in 
progressive movements. 

Then the Grahams, R. L. and C. E.. who have built their business up from the 
bottom; men like W. E. Beattie, F. W. Toe, J. K. Durst, W. H. Sartor, W. M. 
Coleman, W. M. Hagood, N. B. Dial. Ja A. Chapman, J. A. Carroll, Alfred Moore, 
George Summer, R. P. and W. M. Hamer, W. Stackhouse, J. P. Cleveland, L. M. 
McBee, Paul Sanders, John T. Woodside, R. G. Gaines and T. Heber Wanna- 
maker and Col W. G. Smith, of Orangeburg. 

H. G. Carrlson, G. A. Visanska, Aug W. Smith, Emslie Nicholson, O. P. 



212 

Mills, M. S. Bailey, all natives of Carolina, who were successes in thsir various 
lines of industry and merchandising' or banking before they went into the cotton 
mill business. It was a comparatively easy thing for them to succeed at the head 
of a cotton mill, having already equipped themselves for such work. 

Capt W. A. Courtenay, when he retired from the Courtenay Manufacturing 
Company, left it in the hands of his son, Mr Campbell Courtenay; and when Mr 
D. K. Norris died he left the Norris Cotton Mill to the management of his kins- 
man, Mr Tom N. Norris. 

When Mr A. Foster McKissick was called to take charge of the Grendel Cot- 
ton Mill, and later on the Ninety-Six mills, he had gone through the training pro- 
cess as an expert. 

And then, again, there are such men as Mr J. D. Hammett, whose peonle 
have for three generations been identified with the cotton mills of this Stafca; his 
father having been the head of the Piedmont Mills, and his grandfather bavin? 
established the plant at Batesville. This Batesville Mill is unique, being now in 
charge of the only woman president of a cotton mill in the South, Mrs M. P. 
Gridley. 

The executive officers of the "Horse Creek Valley" group live in Augusta, 
but this is simply an accident of residence. The Barretts, the Hickmans and the 
Verderys have all for a lifetime had interests identified with those of South 
Carolina, and, while they are technicall Georgians, they would all perhaps rather 
live on this side of the Savannah River than in Augusta, and perhaps the day will 
come, and not far distant, when they will come over to North Augusta, in this 
State, and be a few miles closer to their "pet" cotton mills on the Carolina side. 
Thos Barrett, Jr, T. I. Hickman and E. F. Verdery, while they live on the Au- 
gusta side of the river, have very large interests in this State and are keenly 
interested in the upbuilding of everything in South Carolina. 

Mr D. A. Tompkins, a native of this State, has done much to develop the 
industry. Mr Ben Riegel, at the head of Ware Shoals, has come here to buil-l up 
a great property and identify himself with this State. Then there ars such 
workers and successful men as R. Z. Cates and W. E. Cheswell, and Grange S. 
Coffin, and Robert Chapman, of McColl; W. M. Webster, Capt D. J. Winn. 

P. E. Fant is one of the newcomers at the head of a large plant. Mr Chas K. 
Oliver, long identified with the successful Columbia Mills, went to Baltimore to 
take charge of the general property, and is now the head of the Mount Vernon- 
Woodbury Company— one of the strongest textile corporations in the country. 
Among the commission merchants wno have shown their faith in Carolina mills is 
Derring, Millekin & Co, and their representative, Mr Millekin, is at the head of 
the Darlington Mills. The Millekens are largely interested in several large mills 
in this State— they invested in South Carolina many years ago. 



ARTICLE XXXII— General Review and Mill Directory. 

It has been a source of very great pleasure to note the widespread interest that 
has been taken in this series of articles on "The Cotton Mills of South Caro- 
lina." I do not flatter myself that the interest has been because of the manner 
in which the articles have been prepared, but rather in the subject matter itself. 
This is the final article of the present series. Some will rejoice, but ray fear is 
that much that should have been recorded has had to be left out. 

My chapters on the early history of the industry have been the occasion of 
many letters. Among the interesting data is a letter from the distinguished 
Thomas Taylor, of Columbia, relative to early manufacturing in South Carolina, 
and particularly bagging. The letter is given with all of its eccentric spelling, 
through the courtesy of Mr Ben P. Taylor, of Columbia. It reads: 

Columbia, 2Sth, March, 1S09. 
Dear Son 

This will serve to tell you we are all well and to request you to try and get 
me a flying shuttell and send up by your brother John. By applying to Mr. 
frinod expect you will hear where they are to be got as he told me they were 
making them sum where in town. We are going on well with the common shutoli 
But my Irish man says vee will do doubell if wee had the flying shuttell Gasgard 
weaves me 12 yds a day 1-4 yds wide of . as good bagging as ever was packed i 
have 325 lbs of cotton put into 1 2-4 yds of cloth not one bag has a singel thred 
gave way & are the nicest bags I ever saw all made out of the infearer yellow 
coton i began in february & have got 600 yards ready which is sufficient for the 
balance of my present crop. 

I never shall purchis another coten bag nor negro clothing sheats nor 
counterpins were I a young man the expearance & that wise meashure of the 
Imbargo that our government first Look, and to liv as long as i have done I 
should more than doubell the fortune i have made by this mode of saving. 

am with due respects your well wishing father Thos Taylor 

Mr Henry Taylor 

Mr William D. Sullivan, of Tumbling Shoals, has kindly written me about a 
mill that Major Richard Simpson and Col Wm Downs erected on South Raburn 
Creek, nine miles west of Laurens C. H., in Laurens County, about 1826. The mill 
was subsequently sold to the Wnites. of Georgia. 

But there must be an end. 

The cotton mills have done very well. They are feeling the present day 
stress, as is indicated by the unanimous adoption of this resolution at a meeting 
of manufacturers, held November 26. 1907, at Greenville: 

"It is the judgment of this conference that it is not advisable for the manu- 
facturers of cotton goods, who have sold their production on fcrward sates, to 
cancel such sales, even when a forfeit is paid by the buyer, unless the financial 
responsibility of the buyer becomes such as to make it advisable to make a cash 
settlement rather than take the risk of a delivery on the sale." 

The financial stress has, as may oe noted, not only had its effect on the price 
of raw cotton, but only temporarily, it is hoped, on the manufactured product. 

A great deal has recently been published relative to new cotton mills. They 
will continue to be established, and every new mill means much to the industrial 



214 

prosperity of the community in which it may be built. Let those who build see 
that they have and can hold labor. Let labor— operatives, workers— ever be be- 
fore the mill president! 

There are many cotton mills in the chrysalis that may or may not be realized. 
The list I'm. here giving is not speculative. It represents ,the prospective mill 
enterprises that have gone so far as to apply to the Secretary of State for char- 
ters: 

Name. Capital. 

Greeleyville Cotton Mill, Greeley ville $ 150,000 

Highland Cotton Mills, Newberry 300,000 

The North Augusta Knitting Mills, North Augusta. 6,000 

Wymojo Yarn Mills, Rock Hill '. . . 150,000 

Blacksburg Mills, Blacksburg 100,000 

The Cheraw Cotton Mills, Cheraw 150,000 

Mishna Mills, Union 300,000 

Acme Manufacturing Company, Rock Hill 5,000 

W. S. Gray Cotton Mill, Woodruff .... 160,000 

Leesville Cotton Mill, Leesville ; 100,000 

Lockmor Cotton Mill. Yorkville 100,000 

Merrimac Mills, Gaffne}' 150,000 

Chapin Manufacturing Company, Chapin .. 75,000 

Charleston Waste Mill, (prepared) Charleston .... 300,000 

Total $2,046,000 

Over two millions in projected cotton mills! 

There are other projects in excellent formative shape, but they have not yet 
begun work, as far as reported, nor have they been chartered. 

By way of conclusion, I want to present a directory, showing the location, 
postoffices of the cotton mills of South Carolina, together with the present execu- 
tive heads as far as can be ascertained. The list changes, but it is as up-to-date 
as possible and will be of general interest. It follows: 

The following is the location of the mills and the presidents of the corporations: 

Abbeville Cotton Mills, Abbeville, S. C, G. A. Visanska. 

Aetna Cotton Mills/' Union, S. C, W. H. Sartor. 

Aiken Manufacturing Company, Bath, S. C., Thos Barrett, Jr. 

American Spinning Company, Greenville, S. C, J. H. Morgan. 

Anderson Cotton Mills, Anderson, S. C, R. E. Ligon.^* 

Apalache Mills, Arlington. S. C, Lewis W. Parker. 

Aragon Cotton Mills, Rock Hill, S. C, Alex Long. 

Arcade Cotton Mills, Rook Hill, S. C, R. T. Fewell. ^ 

Arcadia Mills, Spartanburg, S. C. H. A. Ligon. ^ 

Arkwright Mills, Spartanburg, S. C, R. Z. Cates. 

Bamberg Cotton Mills, Bamberg, S. C, John H. Cope. 

Banna Manufacturing Company, Goldville, S. C, Geo M. Wright. 

Batesville Mill, Bates ville, S. C. Mrs M. P. Gridley. 

Beaumont Manufacturing Company, Spartanburg, S. C, D. L. Jennings. 

Belton Mills, Belton, S. C, Ellison A. Smyth. 

Brandon Mills, Greenville, S. C, J. I. Westervelt. 

Brogon Mills, Anderson, S. C, J. A. Brock. 



ERRATA. 

Page 215 — Clover Cotton Mills, G. H. O'Leary is now President, vice Riddle. 
Page 214— Lockmore Mills, Yorkville, Thos. P. Moore, President, mill in course 

construction about ready for machinery. 
Page 217— Tavora Cotton Mill, located at Yorkville, S. M. McNeel is President; 

G. H. O'Leary declined re-election. 




215 

Calhoun Falls Manufacturing Company, Calhoun Falls, S. C, W. F. Cox. 

Calumet Manufacturing Company, Liberty, S. C, H. D. Clayton. 

Camperdown Mills, Greenville, S. C, C. E. Graham. 

Capital City Mills, Columbia, S. C, Lewis W. Parker. 

Hamilton Carhart Cotton Mills, Rock Hill, S. C, Hamilton Car hart. 

Carolina Mills, Greenville, S. C, J. I. Westervelt. 

Cherokee Falls Manufacturing Company, Cherokee Falls, S. C, J. C. Plonk. 

dies well Cotton Mills, Westminster, S. C, W. E. Cheswell. 

Chiquola Manufacturing Company, Honea Path, S. C, J. D. Hammett. i^ 

Clifton Manufacturing Company, Clifton, S. C, A. H. Twitchel. 

Clinton Cotton Mills, Clinton, S. C, M. S. Bailey. 

Clover Cotton Mills, Clover, S. C, G. T. RlQoT e. 

Columbia Mills Company, Columbia, S. C, C. K. Oliver. 

Conneross Yarn Mill, Anderson, S. C, R. L. Farmer. 

D. E. Converse Company, Glendale, S. C, A. H. Twichel. ^ 

Courtenay Manufacturing Company, Newry, S. C, Campbell Courtenay. 

Cowpens Manufacturing Company, Cowpens, S. C, R. R. Brown. 

Cox Manufacturing Company, Anderson, S. C, W. F. Cox. 

Darlington Manufacturing Company, Darlington, S. C, G. H. Milliken. 

Dillon Cotton Mills, Dillon, S. C, W. M. Hamer. 

Drayton Mills, Spratanburg, S. C, Arch B. Calvert. 

Easley Cotton Mills, Easley, S< C, G. M. Geer. 

Edgefield Manufacturing Company, Edgefield, S. C, D. A. Tompkins. 

Enoree Manufacturing Company, Enoree, S. C, Grange S. Coffin. 

Eureka Cotton Mills, Chester, S. C, LeRoy Springs. 

Fairfield Cotton Mills, Winnsboro, S. C, T. K. Elliott. 

Fingerville Manufacturing Company, Fingerville, S. C, J. B- Liles. 

Fork Shoals Manufacturing Company, Fountain Inn, S. C, W. P. Nesbitt. 

Fountain Inn Manufacturing Company, Fountain Inn, S. C, R. L. Graham. 

Franklin Mills, Easley, S. C, J. M. Geer. 

Gaffney Manufacturing Company, Gaffney, S. C, T. E. Moore. 

Glenn-Lowry Manufacturing Company, Whitmire, S. C, W. M. Coleman. 

Glenwood Cotton Mills, Easley, S. C, W. M. Ha good. V - "* 

Globe Manufacturing Company, Gaffney, S. C, W. M. Webster. 

Gluck Mills, Anderson, S. C, Robt E. Ligon, ^^ 

Granby Cotton Mills, Columbia, S. C, Lewis W. Parker. 

Graniteville Manufacturing Company, Graniteville, S. C, T. I. Hickman. 

(Includes Vaucluse.) 
Greenwood Cotton Mills, Greenwood, S. C, J. K. Durst. 
Grendel Cotton Mills, Greenwood, S. C, A. F. McKissick. 
Hamer Cotton Mills, Hamer, S. C, W. M. Hamer. 
Hartsville Cotton Mill, Hartsville, S. C, C. C. T witty. 
Hermitage Cotton Mills, Camden, S. C, H. G. Carrison. 

Highland Park Manufacturing Company, Rock Hill, b. C, E. H. Johnston 
Huguenot Mills, Greenville, S. C, R. L. Graham. 
Inman Mills, Inman, S. C, Jas A. Chapman. 
Irene Mills, Gaffney, S. C, H. D. Wheat. 
Issaquena Mills, Central, 3. C, R. G. Gaines. 
Jackson Mills, Iva, S. C, D. P. McBrayer. 
Jones ville Manufacturing Company, Jonesville, S. C, Emslie Nicholson. 



INDEX. 



Abbeville Cotton Mills, 86-108-137-92 

141-152 - 180-188-207-214-194, 
Abbeville County, 95-100-108. 
Absenteeism, 35-60-67. 
Acme Mnfg. Co. 214. 
Aetna Cotton Mills, 49-86-110-92-141 

152-207-214-149-196. 
Affidavits as to Child Labor, 111-113. 
Alphabetical list of Mills and School 

Enrolment, 137. 
Ages and Pay, 38-43. 
Ages of Children, 102-110. 
Agitators, 31. 
Aiken Mnfg. Co. 78-83- 86-137-92-141 

152-180-188-207-214-194. 
Aiken County, 95-100-108-148. 
American Spinning Co. 86-137-92-141 

152-180-188-207-214-149-194. 
Anderson Co. Mills, 48-49-59-95-178. 
Anderson Cotton Mills, 55-68-86-108 

137-92-141-153-180-188-193-207-214- 

149-194. 
Anderson W. P., 217. 
Annual Pay Rolls, 188. 
Apalache Mills, 86-110-137-141-153 

180-188-207-214-149-194. 
Aragon Cotton Mills, 86-137-92-141 

153-180-188-207-214-149-196. 
Arcade Cotton Mills, 86-110-137-92 

141-153-180 188-207-214-196. 
Arcadia Mills, 86-110-137-92-153-180 

188-207-214-149,196. 
Arguments Commercial, 184. 
Arkwright Mills, 86-110-137-92-141 

154- 180-188-207-214-149-195. 
Asiatic Trade, 192. 
Assisting Operatives, 124-170. 
Attendance School, 133-142. 
Atmospheric Conditions, 83-85. 
Automobiles owned, 74. 
Average Attendances Schools, 137. 

Average of 32. 

Average Pay of the Operatives, 32. 

B 

Bailey, M. S. 212-216-215. 

Bailey, P. S. 217. 

Bales of Cotton Consumed, 91-180-184 

Bamberg Cotton Mills, 86-108-137-92 

154-180-188-207-214-149-194. 
Bamberg County Mills, 86-95-100. 



Bank Accounts, 67-75. 

Banna Mnfg. Co. 86-137-92-180-188 

207-214-195. 
Baptist Missionaries, 129-134. 
Baptist, strength of, 143-152. 
Barnwell, Arthur, 211-216. 
Barrett, Thomas, 212. 
Barrett, Thomas, Jr., 212-214-216. 
Barron, J. H., 211-216. 
Base Ball, 131. 
Batesville Mill, 86-108-137-154-180-188 

193-207-214-149-194. 
Bates, William, 13-14. 
Beaumont Mnfg. Co. 86-110-137-92 

154-180-188-207-214-149-195. 
Beattie, W. E., 48-129-211-216. 
Beaty, J. H. M., 77. 
Beginnings of Mills, 6. 
Belgians, in Mills, 200-207. 
Beltori Mills, 86-108-137-92-141-154-180 

188-207-214-149-194. 
Birth Records, 78-83. 
Birth Registration, 106. 
Blacksburg Mills, 214. 
Blackwelder, John A., 217. 
Blake, Lewis D., 211. 
Bleachery, 197. 
Board Paid by Operatives, 56. 
Books in Demand, 136. 
Boys in the Mills, 102-124. 
Braeckelaere, Louis, 202. 
Brandon Mills, 55-68-86-108-129-137 

92-141-155-180-188-207-214-149-194. 
Brogan Mills, 86-108-137-92-141-155 

180-188-193-207-214-149-194. 
Brown, R. R. 215. 
Brass Bands, 131. 
"Buck" Weavers, 177. 
Brock, J. A. 211-214. 
Business brought by Mills, 184. 
Building and Loans, 58. 
Buildings, School and Money, 141-152 
"Burnt" Factory, 14. 



Calhoun Falls Mnfg. Co., 63-86 92-141 

188-207-215. 
Calhoun, John C, 13-86. 
Calumet Mnfg. Co. 86-92-141-155-188 

149-207-215-125-195. 
Calvert, Arch B., 211-215. 
Campbell, Malcomb, 216. 



220 



Camperdown Mills, 20-86-92-107-141 

149-155-188-193-207-215-194. 
Cancellations, contracts, 213. 
Capital City Mills, 86-92-141-149-155 

109-188-207-215-195. 
Capital investments, 3-207. 
Capitalization of the Mills, 207. 
Capital of Mills, 207-211. 
Carder's pay, 38-51. 
Carhart, Hamilton, 86-129-215. 
Carhart, Hamilton Cotton Mills, 86 

92-110-141-155-188-207-215. 
Carolina, 86. 
Carolina Mills, 86-92-109-141-149-156 

188-207-84-215-194. 
Carrison, H. G., 211-215. 
Cates, R. Z., 212-214. 
Carrol, J. A., 211-216. 
Certificates' Child labor, 110-114. 
ChapihMnfg. Co., 214. 
Chapman, Jas. A., 211-215. 
Chapihan, Robert, 212-216. 
Charleston County, 95-100. 
Charleston Early efforts, 11. 
Charters, efforts to secure, 17. 
Charleston Waste Mill, 214. 
Cheraw, Cotton Mills, 214. 
Chester County, 95-100. 
Cheswell, W. E. 212-215. 
Cheswell Cotton Mills, 86-92-109-141 

156-188-195-207-215. 
Cheves, Langdon, 15-86. 
Cherokee County, 95-100-178-186. 
Cherokee Falls, 86. 
Cherokee Falls Mnfg. Co. 194-141-92 

86-149-186-188-207-215. 
Child Labor, 3-102. 
Child labor, difficulties in handling 115 

124. 
Child Labor, discussed, 102-124. 
Child labor law, 104. 
Child labor in South Carolina, 102-124 
Child Labor, views on, 120. 
Children at Schools, 144-145. 
Children, birth record, 78-90. 
Children in the Mills, 102-124. 
Children in Villages, 137-140. 
Children not wanted, economic, 119. 
Children under 12, 137-140. 
Chiquola Mnfg Co. 25-26-29-53-55-56 

86-91-108-86-92-141-149-156-194-188- 

215. 
Churches, 126-143-177. 
Churches erected by Cotton Mills, 148 
Churches and Schools, 152-177. 
Church Missionaries, 129. 
Church Support, 135. 
Church, Welfare work, 124-170. 
Clayton, H. L., 215. 
Clemson College Textile School, 89. 



Cleveland, Jno. B., 7-18-69-200-211- 

217. 
Cleveland, J. F., 211-217. 
Clubs, 146. 

Claims as to children in Mills, 107. 
Clerk's Pay, 50. 
Clifton, 86. 
Clifton Mnfg. Co., 73-80-86-92-110-141 

156-192-195-188-208-215. 
Clinton Mills, 86-92-141-149-188-191- 

195-208-215. 
Clover Cotton Mills, 87-149-156-188- 

196-208-215-87-92-110-141. 
Coal, prices of, 55. 
Coffin, Grange S. 212-215. 
Coleman, W. M. 211-215. 
Collateral industries, 89. 
Colleton County, 96-100. 
Colored Labor, 24-25. 
Columbia, 16-66-52-56-69-87-101-133 

187. 
Columbia Mills, 16. 
Columbia Mills Company, 87-92-109- 

141-149-156-188-195-208-215. 
Commissions, 198. 
Commission Agents, Money, 211. 
Comparative payrolls, 32. 
Comparative Statistics, 91. , 
Comparison farms, vs, Mills, 29. 
Comparison of Pay, (1902-1907)38-43. 
Compulsory Education, 127. 
Conditions, 213. 

Conditions in South Carolina, 204. 
Conneross Yarn Mills, 87, 92-141-191 

194-188-208-215. 
Consumption of Cotton, 178. 
Consumption of Cotton by Mills, 180 

184. 
Converse, D. E. Co., 87-92-110-141- 

149-157-188-195-208-215. 
Converse, D. E., 7-15-18. 
Cope, John H., 211-214. 
Cotton Consumption, 178. 
Cotton Production, 178. 
Cotton Mills by counties, 95-99. 
Cotton Mills, Cotton, 178. 
Cotton Mills in Spartanburg, 184. 
Cotton Mills products, 192-199. 
Cotton Mill, school statistics, 137-140 
Cotton Mills, 1819, 14. 
" 1826, 16. 
" 1829, 15. 
" 1847, 18. 
" 1880, 20. 
" 1907, 214. 
Cotton Mills, vs. Farms, 26. 
Cotton Mills number of operatives, 

86-91. 
Cotton planting profitable, 16. 
Cotton thread, 13. 



221 



Cotton used by Mills, 91. 

Cost of Living, 55-56. 

Counties with the Cotton Mills, 95-99 

Courtenay, 87. 

Courtenay, Campbell, 212-215. 

Courtenay Mfg. Co., 212-92-87-141-109 

149-157-188-195-208-215. 
Courtenay, William A. 17-212. 
Cowpens, 87. 
Cowpens Mfg. Co., 87-92-141-188-191 

195-208-215. 
Cows, 55. 
Cox Mfg. Co., 87-92-141-149-188-193 

194-208-215. 
Cox, W. F., 211-215-87. 
Crescent Mfg. Co., 89-183. 
Crittenden, S. S., 14. 
Curry, John, 11. 

D 

Darlington Mfg. Co., 87-92-137-141 
180-188-158-208-215-149-194. 

Darlington County Mills, 96-100. 

Death Records, 78-82. 

DeCamp, Ed. H., 186. 

Decorations in Homes, 53-55. 

Demand for Labor, 63. 

Departments in Mills, 36. 

Details, Welfare Work, 152-177. 

Day Nursery, 131. 

Development of Industry, 91. 

Dial, N. B., 216. 

Dillon Cotton Mills, 65, 87, 92-138-180 
191-193-208-215,195. 

Directory of Mills, 214. 

Disclipline, 64. 

Distribution of labor in Mills, 32. 

"Doffing" process, 121. 

Draper Looms, 43-47-65-75. 

Drayton Mills, 63-87-110-92-138-141- 
158-180-188-208-215-149-195. 

Durst, J. K., 211-215. 

E 

Early Development, 6-17. 

Early Efforts, 213. 

Early Efforts to build, 14. 

Early Marriages, 177. 

Easley Cotton Mills, 87, 109-92-138- 

141-158-180-188-208-215-149-195. 
Earnings of Family, 70-73. 
Edgefield Mfg. Co., 87-92-138-158-180 

189-208-215-149-194. 
Edgefield County Mills, 96-100. 
Educational Welfare work, 124-170. 
Education, Children, 116-120. 
Education, support by Mills, 99-102. 
Egyptian Cotton, 179. 
Elliott, T. K. 211-215-217. 



Emigration, 199-207. 

Employees in Mills, 86-91. 

Enoree Mfg. Co., 87-110-92-138-141 

158-180-189-208-215-149-195. 
Enrollment in Mill Schools, 137. 
Exemption from Taxation. 101. 
Evans, G. W., 217. 
Expensive Children, 104-112. 
Expenses of Living, 57-60. 
Eureka Cotton Mills, 87-108-92-138- 

158-180-189-208-215-149-194. 
European Labor, 199-207. 



Failure, causes, 18. 

Fairfield Cotton Mills, 87-108-92-138- 

141-159-180-189-208-215-149-194. 
Fairfield County Mills, 96-100. 
Families wanted, 23. 
Family earnings, 70-73. 
Family pay, 39-43. 
Farmer, R. L., 215. 
Farm Lands bought by Operatives, 

70. 
Farm operations, 27. 
Farms vs. Cotton Mills, 26-27. 
Fant, P. E.. 216. 
Fewell, R. t., 71-200-211-214. 
Figures of Spindles, 91. 
Fingerville Mfg. Co., 87-93-138-180- 

189-191-208-215-195. 15. 
First Cotton Mill, 68. ■ 
Fisher Bros., 16. 
Foreigners in the Mills, 199-207. 
Foreign Labor, 24-61-199. 
Fort Mill Mill. (See Mill Fort.) 
Fountain Inn Mfg. Co., 87, 93-138- 

141-159-180-189-193-208-215-149-195 
Fork Shoals Mfg. Co., 87-109-141- 

159-180-189-193-208-215-149-194. 
Franklin Mills, 87-93-138-159-180-189 

208-215-149-195. 
Further details of Welfare work, 158 

165. 
Furman, Alester G., 187. 

G 

Gadsden, Christopher, 6. 

Gaffney, 186. 

GaffneyMfg. Co., 87, 108, 93, 138, 

145, 159, 181, 189, 208, 215, 149, 

194. 
Gaines, R. G., 211, 215, 
Gardens, 53. 
Geer, G. M., 215. 
Geer, J. M., 211, 215. 
General Review and Mill Directory, 

213, 217. 
General Scope of Welfare Work, 

124, 133. 



222 



Georgians in Mills, 24. 

Germans as Laborers, 199. 

Glen, Governor, 7. 

Girls in the Mills, 102, 124. 

Glenn-Lowry, Mfg. Co., 87, 109, 93, 

138, 141, 159, 181, 189, 208, 215, 

149, 194. 
Glenwood Cotton Mills, 87, 109, 93, 
138, 141, 160, 181, 189, 208, 275, 149 

195 
Globe Mfg. Co., 87, 108, 93, 138, 

141, 160, 181, 189, 208, 215, 194. 
Gluck, Mills, 87, 108, 93, 138, 160, 

181, 189, 193, 208, 215, 149, 194. 
Goods, Manufactured, 43, 46. 
Gossett, James, P., 211, 217. 
Grade of goods Manufactured, 194, 

199. 
Graded Schools, 126, 135. 
Graham, C. E., 193, 211, 215. 
Graham, R. L., 193, 211, 215. 
Granby Cotton Mills, 87, 109, 129, 

93, 138, 160, 181 189, 208, 215, 149, 
195. 

Graniteville Established, 17. 
Graniteville Mfg. Co., 20, 21, 18, 19, 

25, 52, 55, 56, 66, 68, 80, 81, 87, 

113, 130, 133, 93, 138, 141, 160, 

181, 189, 208, 215, 148. 
Gray, W. S. Cotton Mill, 214. 
Greenville, 187. 
Greeleyville Cotton Mill, 214. 
Greenville County Mills, 14, 96, 13 

178. 
Greenwood Cotton Mills, 78, 93, 138, 

161, 181, 189 208, 215, 149 195, 
Greenwood County Mills, 96, 100. 
Gregg, William, 16, 17, 18, 21. 
Grendel Cotton Mills, 87, 109, 93, 

138, 141, 161, 181, 189, 208, 215, 

149, 195. 
Gridley, Mrs. M. P., 14, 15, 212, 216. 
Grocery Bills, type, 57, 60. 
Growth of Industry, 91. 
Guignard, G. A., 217. 
Guignard John, G., 10. 

H 

Hagood, W. M., 211, 215. 

Hamer, Cotton Mills, 55, 73, 87, 109, 

93, 138, 141, 161, 181, 189, 193, 208, 

215, 149, 195. 
Hamer, W. M., 211, 215, 216. 
Hamer, Robert, P. Jr., 211, 215. 
Hammett, J. D., 82, 129, 200, 212, 

215. 
Hammett, H. P., 14, 18, 7. 
Hammond, Frank, 211. 
Hammond's Handbook, 8, 16. 



Hartsville Cotton Mills, 87, 108, 93, 

138, 141, 161, 181, 189, 208, 215, 

149 194. 
Heath, B.D., 211, 216. 
Health of Help, 75, 86. 
Helping the Help, 124, 170. 
Help, number in State, 86, 91. 
Help, where it comes from, 20. 
Hermitage Cotton Mills, 87,1-109, 93, 

138, 161, 181, 189, 208, 215, 1149, 

195. 
Heyward, Thomas, Jr., 7. 
Hickman Memorial, 130. 
Hickman, T. I., 130, 212, 215. 
Highland Cotton Mills, 214. 
Highland Park Mfg. Co., 65,1 87, 

110, 93, 138, 161, 181. 189, 208,|215, 

149 196. 
Hill's Factory, 17. 
Hill, Leonard & George, 13. 
Historical Data, 6. 
History of early development, 6. 
History early efforts, 213. 
Hollis, L. P., Letters from 69. 
Home Capital, 211. 
Home life of the operatives, 51, 60. 
Homes bought, 69, 72. 
Homespun Company, 12. 
Homes, Sizes, etc., 52. 
"Hook Worm", 76, 80. 
Hospital, 128. 

Hospitals for operatives, 78. 
Hours of Labor reduced, 36. 
Hours of work, 59. 
Houses and rents, 51, 54. 
Houses Number 54. 
How much the mills pay in taxes, 

99, 102. 
How they live, 54, 61. 
How they save money, 69. 
Huguenot Mills, 87, 93, 138, 161, 
181, 189, 208. 215, 149, 195. 



I 



Ice supplied, 83. 

Illiteracy 1855, 21. 

Illustrations of Savings, 70. 

Immigration or Emigration, 199, 207. 

Immorality, 177. 

Increase of Wages, 32, 34. 

Index, 219. 

Individual Savings, 67, 75. 

Inducements, offered type, 23. 

Industry Manufacturing Co., 13. 

Inglesby, F. J., 211. 

Inman, Mills, 65, 87, 110, 93, 138, 

141, 162, 181, 189, 208, 215, 149, 

195. 
Instalment plan sales, 53. 



223 



Insurance, 150! 

Investment in Stocks, 207, 211, 

Investment, by Mills in Schools, 

141, 152. 
Investments by operatives, 60, 72. 
Investors individual, 69, 72. cr_;-^ 

Investors in Mill Stocks, 211. 
Introduction of Series, 3. 
Irene Mills, 87, 93, 138, 181, 189, 

191, 193, 208, 215, 194. 
Issaquena Mills, 87, 93, 138, 162, 

181, 189, 208, 215, 195. 
Itemized Statement Mill Capital, 

207. 
Itemized Statement pay rolls, 188. 



Jackson 'Mills, 63, 87, 93, 108, 138, 
141, 162, 181, 189, 208, 215, 194. 

James, Island, 8. 

Jaynes, R. T., 217. 

Jennings, D. L., 211, 216. 

Johnston, E. H., 215. 

Jones, Allen, 211, 216. 

Jonesville Mfg. Co., 87, 93, 110, 138, 
162, 181, 189, 208, 215, 149, 196, 

Jordan, Mfg. Co., 87, 93, 138, 162, 
181, 189, 191, 193, 208, 216, 195. 

Just a word about Morals, 177. 

Jute, Manufacturing plants, 90. 



K 



Kershaw County, 96, 100. 
Kindergarten, 135. 
Kirkpatrick, Dr., 85. 
Knights of Honor, 150. 
Knights of Pythias, 130, 150. 
Knitting Mills, Population, 89. 
Knitting Mills, List of, 197. 
Knitting Mills, Pay Roll, 191. 
Knitting Mills, Spindles, 98. 
Kohn, August, Author, 2. 



Labor, 3, 60, 61. 
Labor, Demand for, 63. 
Labor, Typical, 32. 
Labor in Cotton Mills, 16. 
Labor organizations, 151. 
Labor Problems, 199, 207. 
Labor Saving Devices, 64. 
Labor Scarcity of, 67. 
Lands owned, 66. 
Lands purchased, 70. 
Land Valued, 184. 

Lancaster Cotton Mills, 87, 93, 138, 
162, 181, 189, 208, 216, 149, 195. 



Lancaster County, 96, 100. 

Langley, Mfg. Co., 20, 87, 108, 141, 

162, 181, 189, 208, 216, 148. 
Laurens Cotton Mills, 87, 96, 93, 

138, 141, 162, 181, 189, 208, 216, 

149, 195. 
Laurens county 1826, 213. 
Laurens county Mills, 96, 100. 
Laurens, Henry, 7. 
Law, John, A., 66, 83, 211, 216. 
Law as to Child Labor, 104, 106. 
Lee, J. B., 217. 
Lee, Joseph, 217. 
Leesville Cotton Mill, 214. 
Legislation, 123. 
Lexington Mfg. Co., 87, 109, 93, 

138, 163, 181, 189, 193, 208, 216, 

149, 195. 
Lexington county Mills, 96, 100. 
Liberty Cotton Mills, 88, 109, 93, 

138, 141, 163, 181, 189, 208, 216, 

149, 195. 
Librarians, 136. 
Libraries, 130. 
Life in the Mills, 71. 
Life of Operatives, 51, 60. 
Ligon, Robert E., 211, 215. 
Ligon, H. A., 211, 214. 
Liles, J. B., 215. 
Limestone Mills, 87, 163, 93, 181, 

189, 208, 216, 149, 194. 
List of Churches, 148. 
List of Cotton Mills, 214. 
List of Cotton Mills in 1847, 18. 
1826, 16. 
1819, 14. , 
1880, 20. 
1907, 214. 
List of Cotton Mills, Welfare Work, 

152. 
List of Mill Schools, 141, 152. 
List of Mills with Looms given, 91, 

98. 
List of Mills with Spindles, 91, 98. 
List of Home Builders, typical, 69. 
Literature on, 17. 
Little, D. D., 217. 
Little Pleasures of Life, 150, 152. 
Lockhart Mills, 87, 63, 110, 93, 138, 

141, 163, 181, 189, 208, 216, 149, 

196! 
Lockmore Cotton Mill, 214. 
Living Expenses, 57, 56. 
Long, Alex, 211, 214. 
Longevity of Life, 80, 86. 
Looms in South Corolina, 92, 98. 
Looms to Operatives, 48, 51. 
Long Staple Cotton, 178. 
Lost Time, 35. 



224 



Location of Mills, 214. 

Lotteries, 9, 11. 

Lucas, Edwin R.,. 211, 217. 

Lucas, W. E., 211, 217, 125. 

Lutheran Church, 143, 152. 

Lutheran Mission, 136. 

Lydia Cotton Mills, 87, 109, 93, 138, 

163, 181, 189, 209, 149, 195, 216. 

M 

Machinery idle, 62. 
Manchester Cotton Mills, 87, 93, 
110, 138, 141, 149, 181, 189, 196, 

164, 209, 216. 

Manetta Cotton Mills, 194, 141, 

138, 88, 108, 93, 163, 149, 181, 189, 

209, 216. 
Manufactured goods, 43, 46, 47, 192, 

199. 
Manufactured Products, 180, 184. 
Manufacturing in 1809, 213. 
Manufacturing process, 37. 
Maple Mills, 65, 139, 88, 93, 193, 195, 

181, 189, 191, 209, 216. 
Marlboro Cotton Mills, 65, 149, 88, 

138, 109, 93, 164, 181, 189, 193, 195, 
209, 216. 

Marion County, 97, 100. 

Marion Mfg. Co., 88, 142, 138, 109, 

93, 149, 164, 181, 189, 195, 209, 216. 
Marriage Laws, 177. 
Marshall, J. Q., 104. 
Mary-Louise Mills, 195, 88, 138, 110, 

93, 149, 164, 181, 189, 207, 216. 
Maxwell, James H., 14, 211, 217. 
McBrayer, D. P., 211, 215. 
McCaughrin, 7. 
McGee, Henry P., 216. 
McBee, L. M., 211, 216. 
McGee Mfg. Co., 88, 139, 109, 93, 

149, 195, 181, 189, 209, 216. 
McKissick, A. F., 212, 215. 
McLure, William, 9. 
McNeel, S. M., (Pres. Tavora 

Mills), 217. 
Medical attention, 84. 
Merrimac Cotton Mill, 214. 
Methodist Church; 143, 152. 
Methodist missionaries, 129. 
Middleburg Mills, 88, 93, 139, 149, 

164, 181, 190, 191, 195, 209, 216. 
Mill Fort Mills, 68, 88, 139, 110, 93, 

196, 165, 181, 189, 209, 216. 
Mills Manufacturing Co., 88, 142, 

139, 109, 93, 149, 195, 164, 181, 189, 
209, 216. 

Mills, O. P., 211, 216. 
Milliken, G. EL, 212, 215. 
Milliken, S. M., 215. 



Mill population, 26, 86, 91. 

Mills accept deposits, 68, 70. 

Mills as town builders, 184. 

Mills before the Revolution, 6, 10. 

Mills capitalization, 207, 211. 

Mills, cotton consumed, 180, 184. 

Mills in South Carolina, 91, 98. 

Mills, pay rolls, 188. 

Mill, statistics, 16. 

Mill stores, 66. 

Mishna Cotton Mills, 214. 

Missionaries, 129. 

Missionariers employed, 129. 

Mission Work, 147. 

Mollohon Cotton Mills, 67. 

Mollohon Mfg. Co., 88, 139, 142, 93, 

149, 165, 181, 189, 209, 216. 
Monaghan Mills, 24, 52, 55, 56, 72, 

83, 117, 130, 145, 203, 88, 93, 109, 

139, 142, 149, 181, 189, 195, 209, 

216. 
Monarch Cotton Mills, 88, 93, 139, 

181, 189, 190, 191, 196, 209, 216. 
Money in building, 141. 
Money in schools, 141, 152. 
Money invested in cotton mills, 207. 
Money put in circulation, 188. 
Moore, Alfred, 211, 216, 
Moore, J. Sumter, 77. 
Moore, T. E., 211, 215. 
Moore, W. B., 211, 216. 
Montgomery, 78. 
Montgomery, J. H., 7, 18, 211. 
Montgomery, Victor M., 211, 216. 
Montgomery, Walter, S., 200, 211, 

216. 
Morals among, help, 177. 
Morgan, J. H., 211, 214. 
Mountain homes, 25. 
Mt. Vernon-Woodbury Mills, 43> 

(See Columbia Mills). 
Municipal taxes paid, 101. 



N 



Native Help, 22. 

Neely Mfg. Co., 88, 93, 110, 139, 165, 

181, 190, 191, 196, 209, 216. 
Negro Labor, 24. 
Nettles, S. A. Rev., on Welfare 

Work, 131. 
Nesbit, W. P., 215. 
Newberry Cotton Mills, 48, 82, 84, 

88, 93, 109, 139, 142, 165, 181, 190, 

149 209 216. 
Newberry County, 97, 100, 178. 
New Cotton Mills, 214. 
New England, compared, 203. 
New England Settlers, 13. 
New Machinery, 48. 



225 



News and Courier, The, 2. 

New Ventures, 214. 

Nicholson, Emslie, 211, 215. 

Night Work, 65, 102, 120. 

Night Schools, 134. 

Ninety Six Cotton Mill, 88, 93, 109, 

139, 142, 165, 181, 190, 195, 149, 

209, 216. 
Norris Cotton Mill Co., 88, 142, 149, 

139, 109, 94, 166, 181, 190, 209. 
Norris, D. K., 212. 
Norris, T. M., 212, 216. 
North Augusta Knitting Mills, 214. 
North Carolina Help, 61 23, 25, 29, 

Number Employees, 86, 91. ** 
Number operatives in State, 86, 91, 
Nurses trained 136. 

O 

Oconee county, 97, 100. 

Octoraro Mill Co., 88, 95, 109, 139, 

166, 190, 193, 209. m 

Odd Fellows, 130, 150. 
O'Leary, G. H., 211, 215. 
Oliver, C. K., 212, 215. 
Olympia, Cotton Mills, 79, 88, 109, 

129, 139, 149, 166, 195, 182, 190, 

209, 216. 
Operatives in their homes, 51, 60. 
Operatives, number in State, 86, 91. 
Operatives, pay, 32, 50. 
Operatives, where they came from, 

21. 
Opposition to Cotton Mills, 13. 
Organized labor, 151. 
Orangeburg county, 97, 100. 
Orangeburg Mfg. Co. (See Orange- 
burg Mills.) 
Orangeburg Mills, 55, 59, 88, 94, 139, 

142, 149, 166, 182, 190, 209, 195. 
Orange Cotton Mills, 94, 182, 190, 

195, 209. 
Orr, James L., 25. 
Orr, J. L., as to Labor, 25. 
Orr, S. M., 211, 216. 
Orr Cotton Mills, 56, 108, 88, 94, 139, 

142, 149, 166, 182, 190, 193, 194, 

201, 209, 216. 
Outside interference, 131. 
Outside workers, 125. 



Pacolet Mfg. Co., 25, 31, 55, 56, 59, 
63, 71, 80, 192, 88, 94, 110, 139, 142, 
149, 166, 182, 190, 196, 209, 216. 

Pallor among operatives, 75, 80. 

Palmetto Cotton Mills, 88, 94, 109, 
139, 142, 167, 195, 182, 190, 209, 
149, 216. 



Parker, Lewis W., 55, 78, 79, 129, 

211, 214, 216. 
Parker, Thomas F., 128, 132, 101, 

211, 216. 
Pay, compared, 1902 and 1907, 38, 

43. 
Pay day, 49. 
Pay in 1907, 33. 
Pay per day type, 38, 43. 
Pay rolls of Cotton Mills, 188. 
Pay of operatives, 32, 50, 
Pay of industrial operatives, 37, 51. 
Pelham Mills, 88, 94, 109, 139, 149, 

142, 167, 190, 182, 193, 195, 209, 

216. 
Pelzer Mfg. Co., 24, 53, 55, 72, 79, 

83, 88, 85, 94, 108, 117, 133, 139, 

142, 149, 168, 182, 190, 192, 195, 209, 

216. 
Pendleton Cotton Mills, 88,. 94, 139, 

142, 182, 194, 190, 191, 209, 216. 
Pendleton Factory, 15. 
Pendleton Mfg. Co., 88, 94, 108, 139, 

149, 168, 190, 182, 194, 209, 216. 
Percentage of children, in Mills, 

107, 120. 
Physical conditions, 75, 80. 
Physicians, 84. 
Pickens Cotton Mills, 88, 94, 139, 

142, 182, 195, 190, 191, 209, 216. 
Pickens county, 97, 100. 
Patent, on ginning machine, 11. 
Pidgin, Chas. F., 64. 
Piedmont farms, 28. 
Piedmont Mfg. Co., 14, 68, 84, 20, 

109, 27, 80, 94, 116, 48, 83, 88, 192, 

67, 82, 139, 142, 149, 169, 182, 190, 

195, 209, 216. 
Piedmont Section, 13. 
Pine Creek Mfg. Co., 88, 94, 139, 

149, 169, 182, 190, 195. 209, 216. 
Plonk, J. C, 211, 215. 
Pioneers of Industry, 6, 18. 
Pioneers in the Piedmont, 13. 
Plantation and manufacturing, 7. 
Poe, F. W., 211, 217. 
Poe Mfg, Co., 88, 94, 139, 142, 149, 
168, 182, 190, 195, 209, 216. 
Population in the mill towns, 86, 91. 
Presbyterian Church, 144, 152. 
Presidents, of the Cotton Mills, 214. 
Print Cloth Mills, 194, 199. 
Prizes for work, 43, 49. 
Product Carolina Mills, 192, 199. 
Projected Cotton Mills, 214. 
Property holding, operatives, 65, 71. 
Property owners, 68, 72. 
Prosperous operatives, 60, 72. 
Purchases by operatives, 67, 75. 
Putting up Money, 67, 75. 



226 



Ramage, Mrs.- 



-, 8. 



Real Estate, 63. 

Real Estate investment, 67-75. 

Red Men, order, 130-150. 

Reedy River Mfg. Co. 88-94-109-139- 

142-170-149-182-190-195-209-216. 
Religion, 143-150-152. 
Rennie, Superintendent, 115-200. 
Rents, 51-52. 

Revenue, taxes paid, 99-102. 
Rhett, John T. 185. 
Riddle, G. T., 215. 
Richland Cotton Mills, 81-55-88-94- 

109-139-142-149-170-182-190-195-209 

216. 
Rfchland county, 97-100-178. 
Riegel,Benj. D. 212-217. 
Riverside Mfg. Co., 88-94-108-139-170 

182-190-194-209-216. 
Rogers, C. E. 216. 
Roddey, W. J. 211-217. 
Roof, W. P., 211-216. 
Rope for Navy, 16. 
Royal Bag and Yarn Company, 88-94 

108-139-142-149-170-182-190-194-209- 

216. 



Salley, A. S., Jr., 8. 

Saluda Factory, 16-17. 

Sanitary Arrangements, 80-85-101. 

Sartor, W. H., 211-214. 

Sanders, Paul, 211-217. 

Satisfied help, 31-67-71-75. 

Savings among the operatives, 67-75. 

Savings Banks, 68. 

Savings Account, 67-75. 

Saxa-Gotha Mills, 88-94-139-142-149- 

170-182-190-195-209-216. 
Saxon Mills, 66-53-56-63-73-83-88-94- 

110-139-142-149-170-193-195-182-190- 

209-216. 
Scarcity of Labor, 60-67. 
School Buildings, 127. 
School children, 137. 
School enrollment, 137. 
School statistics, 137-143. 
Schools, 126-127-133-132-152-142-177. 
Schools and Churches, 152. 
Schools in Mill Villages, 125. 
Schools, money in, 141-152. 
School support, 141-152-177. 
School supported by Mills, 99-102. 
School system, 133-142. 
Scope of Welfare work, 124-127. 
Secret Societies, 130.-150. 
Seibles, John J., 217. 



Seminole Mfg. Co., 88-94-139-142-182 

190-216. 
Seneca Cotton Mills, 88-94-109-139-182 

190-195-209-216. 
Shecut, Dr. John L. E. W., 11-12. 
Sheetings, mills making, 194-199. 
Shortage of Labor, 60-67. 
Sixty Hour Law, 123. 
Slave Labor, 24. 
Sloan, Thomas, 15, 
Sloan, B. F., 15. 
Smith, Aug. W., 128-201-217. 
Smith, C. M., 217. 
Smith, J. P., 216. 
Smith, W. G., 83-203-211-217. 
Smyth, Ellison A. 7-18-48-201-214-216. 
Smyth, J. Adger, 211. 
Social, 129. 

Social Y. M. C. A., 146. 
Something of the detail of Welfare 

work, 152, 157. 

South CarolinaCottonManufacturer's 

Association, 61-127. 
South Carolinians in Mills, 211. 
South Carolina Investments, 211. 
Southern Shuttle & Bobbin Co., 89- 

211. 
Southern Aseptic Laboratory, 89-210 

217. 
Spare Help, 60-65. 
Spartanburg, 184. 

Spartanburg County, 97-100-178-185. 
Spartanburg County Mills, 14-17-97. 
Spartanburg Cotton Mills, 78-80-84. 
Spartan Mills, 88-84-116-139-78-170- 

182-190-193-195-209-216. 
Spindle Statistics, 91-98. 
Spinner's pay, 38-51. 
Specimen, homes,- 72. 
Springs, LeRoy, 75-68-200-215. 
Springstein Mills, 88-94-139-149-171- 

182-194-190-209-217. 
Stackhouse, W., 211-216. 
Statement, cotton consumed by bales 

180-184. 
Statement, Manufactured product, 

180-184. 
State patronizes patents, 10. 
Statistics, attendance schools, 137- 

143. 
Statistics, children in the mills, 108 

110. 
Statistics of Cotton, 91. 
Statistics of Mill population, 86-91. 
Statistics of Mills, 91. 
Statistics of money invested in 

Schools, 141-152. 
Statistics of Spindles, 91. 
Statistics on help, 75-86. 



227 



Statistics schools, 137-143. 

Stiles, Ch. W. Dr., 76-82. 

Stores at mills, 66. 

Stock of Cotton Mills, 207-211. 

Street Cars and schools, 133. 

Summer, George, 211-216. 

Sumter Cotton Mills, 88-94-110-139 

149-171-182-190-209-217. 
Sumter county, 97-100. 
Sumter county and district, 9-16-17. 
Sumter County Mills, 9. 
Sumter early efforts, 17. 
Superintendents from Piedmont Mills 

82. 
Support, schools and churches, 152. 
Swimming pools, 150. 



Table's, children in the Mills, 108, 

110. 
Taxation by State, 100. 
Taxation of the mills, 99, 102. 
Taxes paid, 3, 102. 
Taxes paid by Mills, 99, 102. 
Taylor, Thomas, 213, 10. 
Taylor, B. F., 213. 
Tavora Cotton Mills, 88, 94, 110, 

139, 149, 171, 182, 190, 209, 217. 
Teachers, 152, 177. 
Teacher's pay, 50. 
Tenant class, on farms, 27. 
Temperature in Mills, 84. 
Templeton, Hugh, 11. 
Textile Industry, taxation, 99, 102. 
Thrift among the operatives, 67, 75. 
Triton, C. H. & Bros., 183, 191. 
Tobacco, 59. 

Tompkins, D. A., 103, 212, 215. 
Towns and the cotton mills, 184, 

193 
Townsend, H. C, 211, 217. 
Townsend Cotton Mills, 88, 94, 108, 

139, 142, 149, 172, 182, 193, 194 

190 209 217. 
Toxaway Mills, 88, 94, 108, 139, 142, 

149, 172, 182, 194, 190, 209, 217. 
Trained nurses, 136. 
Tucapau, Mills, 88, 94, 110, 139, 142, 

149, 172, 182, 190, 196, 209, 217. 
Twitchel, A. H., 211, 215. 
Twitty, C. C, 211, 215. 
Tyger Cotton Mills, 88, 94, 110, 139, 

149, 172, 182, 190, 210, 217. 

U 

Union Bleachery, 197, 89, 210. 
Union county, 97, 100. 
Union-Buffalo Mills, 55, 78, 83, 88, 
94, 110, 140, 142, 149, 172, 182, 190, 



192, 196, 210, 217. 
Union county Mills, 178. 



Valley Falls, 89. 

Valley Falls Mfg. Co., 19, 89, 94, 

110, 140, 142, 174, 196, 182, 190, 

210, 217. 
Value, Manufactured product, 180, 

184. 
Vardry, Cotton Mills, 89, 94, 109, 

140, 182, 195, 190. 193, 210, 217. 
Variety, goods manufactured, 192. 
Vaucluse Mills, 18, 20, 16, See 

Graniteville. 
Ventilating apparatus, 83. 
Verdery, E. F., 212, 217. 
Victor Cotton Mills, 89, 94, 110, 140, 

149, 173, 182, 190, 210, 217. 
Victoria Mfg. Co., 63, 89, 94, 110, 

140, 142, 173, 182, 190, 193, 210 

217. 
Views as to Labor, 200. 
Views on Child Labor, 120. 
Villages, cotton mills, 86, 91. 
Villages, improvements, 128. 
Visanska, G. A., 211, 214. 
Vital statistics, 79. 

W 

Wage earner's tables, 60. 

Wages, averages, 32. 

Wages, Compared, actual cases, 38 

43. 
Wages, 1902 and 1907, 33. 
Wages offered, 23. 
Wages Paid, 3. 
Wages Paid, Foreign, 206. 
Wages paid, Tables, 60. 
Walhalla Cotton Mills, (89-94-109-140 

142-149-173-182-190-195-210-217. 
Walhalla Knitting Mills, 183-191-89 

210-217. 
Wagener, George A., 211-216. 
Walterboro Cotton Mills, 89-94-140 

182-190-194-210-217. 
Wardlaw, J. G., 211-217. 
Wannamaker, T. H., 200-211-216. 
Ware Shoals Mfg. Co., 63-89-94-109 

140-149-174-182-190-195-210-217. 
Warren Mfg. Co., 89-94-108-128-140 

142-148-174-182-190-210-217. 
Waring, Benj. 8-10. 
Water Closets, 84. 
Water Supplies, 83. 
Watson, E. J., Commissioner, 24-107 

111-199-202. 
Watson, E. J., on Child Labor, 107. 



228 



Watts Mills, 89-94-109-140-149-142-174 

182-190-193-195-210-217. 
Weaver Mill, 14. 
Weaving, pay, 46-51. 
Weaver's pay, 38-51. 
Weaver, Philip, 13-14. 
Webster, W. M., 212-215. 
Weltner, Rev. C. E., 136-147. 
"Welfare Work, 125-152-170. 
Westervelt, J. I., 129-211-2 L4. 
Westminster Knitting Mills, 89-140 

176-193-183-191-210-217. 
Weston, Dr. William, "Hook Worm" 

77. 
Whaley, W. B. S., 133-187. 
What the Mills have done for the 

towns, 184-192. 
What they are paid, 32, 
What wages paid, 188. 
Wheat, H. D., 211-215. 
Where the Cotton Mills, are, 195-199 
Where the help comes from, 21. 
White labor, 126. 
White, S. E., 68-211. 
Whittaker Cotton Mills, 89-94-140-182 

190-191-194-210-217. 
Whitney, Eli, 10. 

Whitney Mfg. Co., 45-53-55-69-84-89 
- 94-110-182- 190- 119-140-149-174 -192- 

195-210-217. 
Why they go to the Mills, 26. 
Wilkins, B. E., 216. 
Winn, D. James, 212-217. 
Williams, David R., 15. 



Williamston 1 Mills, 89-94-108-149-140 

142-174-182-191-194-210-217. 
Wisdom of Welfare Work, 127-133. 
"Wittekind," 199-24. 
Woman as President, 14. 
Woodstock, Hardwood & Spool Mfg. 

Co. 89-210. 
Women in the Mills, 16. 
Women in weave room, 46. 
Woodmen of the World, 130-150. 
Woodruff Cotton Mills, 69-83-89-9. 

109-140-142-175-182-191- 1 96-210-2174 
Woodside Cotton Mills, 52-89-94-96 

109-140-142-149-175-182-187-191-195 

210-217. 
Wood, prices of, 55. 
Working children, 104-109. 
Wright, Geo. M., 211-214. 
Woodside, John T., 211-217. 
Worth, C. M., 216. 
Wright, Z. F., 211-216. 
Wright, Geo. M. 211-216. 
Wylie Mills, 89-94-140-182-191-194-210 

217. 
Wymojo Yarn Mills, 214. 



York Cotton Mills, 89-94-110-140-142- 

149-175-182-191-196-210-217. 
Yarn manufactured, 193. 
Y. W. C. A., 129-144. 
Y. M. C. A., 83-128-130.144. 
York County, 97-100. 



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